Current February 2016

Current

THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE F E B R U A RY 2 0 1 6

Volume 1 No 1

PRODIGAL

SON EL NIÑO HAS LONG SHAPED AUSTRALIA AND ITS RECENT RETURN SHOWS IT IS NOT FINISHED YET

Your essential guide to Ozwater’16

Turning the tide on potable water recycling

The pipeline for sustainable research dollars

Current F E B R U A RY 2 0 1 6

CON T E N T S

THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE

FEATURES

42 38 54 60 70

COVER STORY El Niño has been shaping Australian society since before Federation. What has the boy’s latest visit brought?

WASTE NO MORE? New Association research shows most Australians are comfortable with drinking recycled water. So what is holding it back?

QUALITY CONTINUUM What the microbial water quality target means for Australian water suppliers.

RESOURCE RECOVERY How two very different plants are using biosolids management to boost their sustainability.

ALL TOGETHER NOW Ozwater is the most important gathering of water professionals in the southern hemisphere. Find out what is in store this year.

Desalination provides a climate-independent source of drinking water but community perception that the process is energy intensive and environmentally damaging still exists.

P56 JE Blesing and C Pelekani on seawater desalination and sustainability

Current

THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE F E B R U A RY 2 0 1 6

Volume 1 No 1

ON THE COVER

PRODIGAL

SON EL NIÑO HAS LONG SHAPED AUSTRALIA AND ITS RECENT RETURN SHOWS IT IS NOT FINISHED YET

Your essential guide to Ozwater’16

Turning the tide on potable water recycling

The pipeline for sustainable research dollars

Wyangala Dam, near Cowra, during the Millennium Drought.

www.awa.asn.au

3

Current C ON TE N T S

THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE

20

24

79

56

16

38

NEWS

TECHNICAL

08 10 12 11 12 16

54 56 57 58 60 63 64 67

www.awa.asn.au

From the president’s desk Association strategy in the spotlight Magazine refresh explained Association news International update

INDUSTRY 20 24 28 32 38 42 50

4

CEO welcome

Water Minister Barnaby Joyce Mentoring spotlight

Water in Australia report Water sustainability research Potable recycling El Niño Infographic

Microbial water quality target Adelaide desalination plant Groundwater treatment Wastewater treatment plant upgrades Biosolids management Risk management Automated billing analytics Phosphorus removal

EVENTS 70 74 76 77 78

Ozwater’16 YWP Conference Water Innovation Forum and Expo Association events calendar Social pages

SUEZ Water & Treatment Solutions for the municipal sector

a new form of energy Smart and reliable solutions creating renewable energy from wastewater and organic waste

Phone +61 2 8759 7900 suez.com.au

GULQNLQJ ZDWHU SURGXFWLRQ _ VHDZDWHU GHVDOLQDWLRQ _ ZDVWHZDWHU SXULįFDWLRQ reuse opportunities | biosolids management | network management

Current THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Jonathan McKeown Email: jmckeown@awa.asn.au Marketing Manager: Ashleigh James Email: ajames@awa.asn.au TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Frank R Bishop (Chair); Chris Davies, Australian Water Association; Dr Andrew Bath, Water Corporation; Michael Chapman, GHD; Dr Dharma Dharmabalan,TasWater; Wilf Finn, Norton Rose Fulbright; Robert Ford (rtd), Central Highlands Water; Ted Gardner (rtd); Antony Gibson, Orica Watercare; Dr David Halliwell, Deakin University; Sarah Herbert, Shelston IP; Dr Lionel Ho, AWQC,SA Water; Des Lord, National Water Commission; Dr Robbert van Oorschot. GHD; John Poon, CH2M Hill; David Power, BECA Consultants; Dr lan Prosser, Bureau of Meteorology; Dr Ashok Sharma, CSIRO; Rodney Stewart, Griffith School of Engineering; Diane Wiesner, Jamadite Consulting.

Online Editor: Anne Lawton Email: alawton@awa.asn.au

Current is the official quarterly magazine for members of the Australian Water Association.

655 Pacific Highway, St Leonards, Sydney, NSW 2065 Phone: (02) 9436 0055 Email: info@awa.asn.au

369a Darling St, Balmain, Sydney, NSW 2041 Managing Editor: James Chalmers Email: james@mahlabmedia.com.au Deputy Editor: Cecilia Harris Email: cecilia@mahlabmedia.com.au Graphic Design: Matt Caulfield, Jack Pike, Gary Humphrys Account Manager: Stuart Singleton Email: stuart@mahlabmedia.com.au Advertising Manager: Samantha Hogben Email: sam@mahlabmedia.com.au

EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS: Acceptance of editorial submissions is at the discretion of the editors and editorial board.

TECHNICAL PAPERS: Submissions should be 3000–4000 words long and accompanied by relevant graphics, tables and images.

To submit a paper or for more detailed submission guidelines, please email alawton@awa.asn.au NEWS AND FEATURES: New tips, submissions and press releases should be sent to cecilia@mahlabmedia.com.au COPYRIGHT: Current is subject to copyright and may not be reproduced in any format without the written permission of AWA. Email cecilia@mahlabmedia.com.au DISCLAIMER: The Association assumes no responsibility for opinions or statements of fact expressed by contributors or advertisers.

Mention of particular brands, products or processes does not constitute an endorsement.

6

www.awa.asn.au

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From the CEO

INNOVATION TO BE THEME OF 2016 CHALLENGES DRIVE FRESH FOCUS Welcome to the first edition of our new member magazine – Current. I hope you enjoy the new format, its wide range of articles and reading the views of key people in Australia’s water sector.

Along with our new website, the magazine will highlight the Association’s focus on three core areas: information and advocacy; professional development; and networking and industry development. Through each of these core areas, the Association looks to promote the water sector’s achievements and advocate on its behalf to foster sustainable water practices, policies, and to provide opportunities for our members’ professional development and network building both in Australia and internationally.

Over the past 18 months the Board, Strategic Advisory Council, Branches, and our Specialist Networks have worked hard to shape the Association’s strategic direction and 2016 will be a year of consolidation as we reap the benefits of this work, as well as the full benefits of the new digital platform, better communications and a calendar of state and national events that, we hope, has something for everyone. Read more about the Association’s strategic plan on page 12.

This year commenced with very serious water shortages in several states. If our water storage facilities are not replenished within the first quarter, Governments around the country will face some major water security issues. The very recent flooding in some regions will hopefully alleviate some of this pressure. The Federal election of 2016 will provide opportunities for the Association to advocate for continuing improvements to Australia’s water management, including increased water security, availability and quality of rural and regional water, and greater consumer engagement in determining preferred water services.

I encourage you to be involved in the development and promotion of the Association’s advocacy initiatives.

The Federal Government’s recent announcement of a $1.1 billion Innovation Package is an excellent opportunity for Australia’s innovators and the water sector. The strong Innovation Program the Association has developed over the past two years fits this new national priority. The Association’s national Water Innovation Forum and Expo offers a practical platform for people working in water-using industries to discuss key challenges, share knowledge and best practices on water innovations, and showcase their products to potential buyers and investors.

The joint AWA/IWA Young Water Professionals Conference also has a strong innovation theme, and is our first major national event for 2016. This conference will help our YWPs assert and define their crucial role in the future of water management. Our YWPs need to have the skills to adapt to shifting markets and seize opportunities for new projects as the water industry as a whole confronts the effects of changing climatic conditions. Events like this are growing our YWP membership; as a result we are strengthening our mentoring program. Find out more about your state’s mentoring program – we are always looking for mentees and mentors alike.

Finally, the looming drought is driving the need for improved and diversified supply resilience strategies – a theme that flavours this year’s Ozwater. I encourage all members to participate in Ozwater this year and get involved in the Association’s activities as we brace ourselves for another period of water scarcity.

THE $1.1 BILLION INNOVATION PACKAGE IS AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY FOR THE WATER SECTOR.

Jonathan McKeown Australian Water Association Chief Executive

8

www.awa.asn.au

• Ozone and Activated Carbon Application Studies including batch, jar and column tests for assessing organics and algal metabolite reduction • Pilot Plant Hire, Operation and Analysis • Experimental Design • Biological Activated Carbon (BAC) Aging Profiles • Biodegradable Dissolved Organic Carbon (BDOC) Testing • Assimilable Organic Carbon (AOC) • H2S Breakthrough Capacity • Full scale plant audit and optimisation studies

RESEARCH LABORATORY SERVICES PTY LTD PO Box 50, Eltham, Victoria, AUSTRALIA Phone: +61 3 9431 2595 Email: peta@researchlab.com.au www.researchlab.com.au

From the president’s desk

COMMUNITY AND CORPORATE MEMORY In writing this, let me welcome you all to 2016 and all the New Year has to offer. This is the first publication of our new magazine and one of the topics in it relates to our preparedness for the current El Niño, which in turn brings me to the issue of community and corporate memory and the challenges that brings for both the community as a whole and those serving it as water service providers.

We regularly rise to the challenge that a drought or flood may bring but how well do we really learn from these challenges so that we are better prepared for the future? There are many examples where it would appear things have returned to normal, or at least seem to have, and we go back to operating the way we were, with it would seem little recognition of the lessons learnt.

Examples include: rebuilding communities in forests that have been ravaged by bushfire; building houses on flood plains of rivers where flooding has previously been recorded; assuming the climate has gone back to some previous norm and resuming previous consumption patterns and potentially re-examining the MDB Plan.

It can be argued that the eastern states of Australia, despite many views to the contrary, have remembered some of the lessons from the last El Niño and, despite significant political and public debate, retained their desalination plants in readiness. There has nevertheless been some regression, with Queensland abandoning their reuse plants on the basis they may never be required.

Similarly, on the west coast, reduced engagement with the community and a combination of factors including a very dry end to winter and a hot spring/summer have produced a situation where the community is using significantly more water than has been allowed for based on previous years’ actuals. The fine balance between supply and demand is challenging all involved.

A major factor in all that we in the water industry must focus on is consistency of message preserving the gains previously made and continuity of message. We are on a journey with no end. Community support in the way they utilise our precious resource is fundamental and must never be taken for granted.

We simply must remember the lessons of the past and not allow the hard-won gains of the past to be lost. I suggest we already have some work to do in recovering lost ground.

The penalty for a lack of continued leadership is likely to be a community going back to its old ways. Recovering what has been lost in this will come at very large costs, both financially and politically.

As an Association, we must take every opportunity to push this position as we move into 2016.

WE SIMPLY MUST REMEMBER THE LESSONS OF THE PAST AND NOT ALLOW THE HARD-WON GAINS OF THE PAST TO BE LOST.

Peter Moore Australian Water Association President

10

www.awa.asn.au

inDepth Arup Launch ‘inDepth’ Water Yearbook & Perspectives 2014-15 We’re excited to announce that Arup has launched ‘inDepth’ Water Yearbook & Perspectives.

Arup is proud to be publishing the 2014-15 issue which includes commentary and thought leadership articles from experts around the world on issues facing the water sector. ‘inDepth’ Water Yearbook & Perspectives also includes the following: ! ! ! ! ! !

162 Water company profiles 22 Country profiles Groundwater and surface water data Contracts awarded and lost Economic and population data Profit and loss accounts

! ! ! ! ! !

Major international, international and local and regional players Water regulation information Water and sewerage data Who operates where Global water trends and much more…

For your free download visit: indepthwateryearbook.com For more information about the Yearbook or to contribute to future issues contact Daniel Lambert, Water Business Leader, Australasia daniel.lambert@arup.com

We shape a better world | www.arup.com

Association news

RENEWED FOCUS: Helping our members flourish ASSOCIATION REJUVENATION FAR MORE THAN SKIN-DEEP or more than half a century, the Australian Water Association has been the leading representative of water professionals throughout the country.

But to ensure the Association remains as vital and beneficial as it has ever been, the past 18 months have been spent rethinking and reframing the Association strategy.

Members will have already noticed new branding and logos, as well as refreshed communication platforms, such as the new awa.asn.au website but the new strategy extends beyond this, driving the Association and its events to become even more indispensable to members.

CEO Jonathan McKeown said as Australia’s largest water sector body, the Association occupies a unique role. “By representing all water-related disciplines and individuals, the Association is a rare forum for the many different interests in the sector to share their challenges and insights,” he said.

“Water plays a fundamental role in the prosperity of this country, which is why everyone has a stake in all areas of the water sector maximising their collaboration and co-operation.”

McKeown said there would be three key ways of ensuring this happens.

“The first is not only continuing to be the number one source of relevant information for today’s water professionals but building upon our previous foundations to make sure our members are better served than they have ever been,” he said.

“Water is an ever-evolving industry, so to truly excel water professionals need access to high quality and reliable water information and data. Our new digital presence and magazine are part of that process, and will ensure Association members know what they need to thrive.”

McKeown said ensuring all members have access to the professional development they need to advance their career was also key to the Association’s strategy. “Members can expect to see a renewed focus on honing our online training, seminars, and conferences to make them practical and valuable, as well as boosting the amount of expertise shared by the Association’s 18 specialist networks.

By offering these activities the Association can facilitate practical professional development for our members.”

Thirdly, the Association will continue to refine the ways it brings its members together with other relevant parties both inside and outside the industry, McKeown said. “We want to promote Australia’s water capabilities, technology, services and know-how, both internally and externally. Ozwater is already the single greatest gathering of water professionals in this country but we are continuing to evolve all of our events and programs so our members can collaborate and find new business opportunities,” he said.

“This is a hugely exciting time to be involved in the water sector. It is our most precious resource, and the work our members do deserves to be applauded for exactly how valuable it is.”

F

TO TRULY EXCEL, WATER PROFESSIONALS NEED ACCESS TO HIGH QUALITY AND RELIABLE WATER INFORMATION.

12

www.awa.asn.au

Membership

About Us

Professional Development Publications & Information Events

Communities

Business Support

Policy

Read more

Partipates Facilate

WATER-ENERGY-FOOD Read more

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THE VISION To foster knowledge, understanding and advancement, in sustainable water management, its science, practice and policy – through advocacy, collaboration and professional development.

The Association Values Q Credible, Passionate, Collaborative and Innovative Who Association members are Q 4500+ individual practitioners Q 600+ corporate members including utilities, large water users, contractors, consultants and researchers Q 100+ water utilities

Association news

MEMBER MAGAZINE GETS

CURRENT MAKEOVER INSIDE THE NEW LOOK ASSOCIATION MEMBER MAGAZINE executive summary

Infographic

Industry

WATER

BY THE NUMBERS

STEWART GIULIANO

LAST YEAR, THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION COMPLETED IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATIONS OF WATER ATTITUDES VIA THE STATE OF THE WATER SECTOR REPORT AND THE AUSTRALIAN WATER CONSUMER OUTLOOK.

THE ASSOCIATION’S MENTORING PROGRAM HAS PROVED A CAREER-CHANGER FOR SCORES OF YOUNG WATER PROFESSIONALS, GIVING THEM ACCESS TO THE HARD-EARNED WISDOM OF INDUSTRY OLD HANDS.

WA

31% ABOUT RIGHT

15% TOO HIGH

G

iuliano Marcon was an engineer at the very beginning of his journey into the world of water when the Association’s mentoring program found him the perfect guide – CSIRO Professor Stewart Burn, whose decades of experience were vital in helping Marcon chart his own course.

Mentee GIULIANO MARCON KNOX CITY COUNCIL, VICTORIA

Mentee

Mentor

Giuliano

Stewart

Knox City Council,

CSIRO

Marcon

Burn

Victoria Age:

Age:

44

64

Industry experience

Industry experience

8 years

25 years

Knowledge gap

17 years

24

My background is as a production engineer. When I chose production engineering, I was very young, and probably not mature enough to decide what I want to do with my life, but I had to choose.

There were a lot of things happening in my life at the time, but later I discovered I felt a lot more connected to the environment, and this piece was missing from my work as an engineer. After about seven or eight years working as an engineer, I decided I had to change direction and change where I would work, so I enrolled in the PhD course and started digging a bit more into water and environmental policies in general, all of which makes a lot more sense to me. I did my PhD in Brazil from 2001 to 2005 at the university of São Paulo’s School of Public Health.

The proposal was to assess how well São Paulo state’s water resource policy had been applied in practice. I’m glad that I made that decision, even if it’s a bit later in my life, it was worth it.

The Australian Water Association was running a mentoring program, and I was interested, and so I enrolled in the program and met Stewart on the day. We have similar research backgrounds, because my PhD is in water management and Stewart, at the time, was the senior principal scientist for Urban Water Systems Engineering at the CSIRO. Water helped us make the link.

THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME I’D EVER HAD A MENTOR DURING MY PROFESSIONAL CAREER, AND STEWART WAS VERY GENEROUS AND ATTENTIVE. IT WAS JUST FABULOUS . . .

HIS HELP WAS ESSENTIAL FOR ME, ESPECIALLY FOR OBTAINING MY EMPLOYMENT.

50%

74%

DROUGHT CLIMATE CHANGE

69%

POPULATION GROWTH

NT

58%

INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE

24%

56%

NATURAL DISASTERS

0

41% TOO LOW

60%

MINING AND EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES

32% TOO HIGH

10

20

30

Cowes wastewater treatment plant upgrade project

66%

COAL SEAM, SHALE AND TIGHT GASES

ABOUT RIGHT

54%

40

50

60

70

80

Biggest threats to water in their state or territory

QUEENSLAND

28% ABOUT RIGHT

36%

Water sector professionals believe urban water is priced:

SA

TOO HIGH

26%

28%

PUBLIC SURVEY

Concerned about local water shortages

TOO LOW

ABOUT RIGHT

59% TOO HIGH

12% TOO LOW

TOO LOW

A REVIEW OF WESTERNPORT WATER’S MASTER PLANNING AND PROJECT DEVELOPMENT FOR THE COWES WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT UPGRADE C Jayasena, J Anderson

34%

NSW

43%

15%

36%

ABOUT RIGHT

TOO HIGH

TOO LOW

25

GO ONLINE FOR THE LATEST WATER NEWS The water sector is ever-changing and developing, which is why the Australian Water Association is now publishing the latest news online every weekday.

Contained on the Association’s new fully mobile-responsive website, the coverage includes industry, political and scientific updates.

Visit bit.ly/WaterNews to read the latest or follow @AustralianWater on Twitter to keep up to date.

extended aeration process to BNR, while increasing the overall plant capacity to handle projected influent loads up to 2021. The major changes involved: an anoxic zone for biological denitrification;

O An

internal mixed liquor recycle of up to twice the average daily flow;

O Peak

wet weather loading is to be handled by a new storm bypass system to protect the biological process to an enlarged storm storage facility.

To provide increased capacity, upgrades were made to: O the

inlet works

O bioreactor O internal

pumping station

O sludge

digester, and

O sludge

drying systems.

The upgrade was complex and challenging but it was completed on time and within budget with no breaches of the licence effluent limits.

RURAL CONSUMERS

42%

22%

30%

TOO HIGH

TOO LOW PUBLIC SURVEY

PROFESSIONALS SURVEY

Authorities are doing enough to ensure we have secure water supplies in the future

“Maintaining and augmenting infrastructure is a top-three priority”

2011

2012

2013

2014

31%

42%

37%

45%

2015

34%

25%

34%

AGREE

UNDECIDED

DISAGREE

50

www.awa.asn.au

Sources: Australian Water Association and Deloitte – State of the Water Sector Report 2015, Australian Water Association and Arup – Australian Water Consumer Outlook 2015.

www.awa.asn.au

To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/e-Journal

LICENCE LIMIT Compliance Period

49%

ABOUT RIGHT

The major challenge was to provide continuous operation of the plant within the licence limits during construction. This was managed by careful scheduling of construction activities to select the best timing and duration of individual work components.

In summary, the upgrade was complex and challenging, but it was completed on time and within budget with no breaches of the licence effluent limits. The upgrade was completed in June 2015 and since commissioning of the anoxic tank effluent quality has improved despite increases in inflow volumes.

A comparison of the effluent quality before and after conversion is given in the table below.

O Incorporating

URBAN CONSUMERS

VICTORIA

his is the first issue of Current, the Australian Water Association’s new quarterly magazine.

It is part of a sweeping refresh the Association has undertaken for all its communication platforms, including a completely new website.

While retaining the strong focus on publishing the latest in research and technical expertise held by the previous Water Journal, the new magazine has also expanded its scope to more thoroughly encompass the world of the Association’s members. As well as executive summaries of technical papers, each issue will contain news features delving into the social and political issues facing the profession, canvass the biggest

T

W

40%

50% www.awa.asn.au

esternport Water provides water supply and wastewater collection and treatment services to an area of 300km2 about 100km south east of Melbourne, centred on the holiday resort of Phillip Island. Although the serviced area only has a resident population of about 20,000, it experiences peaks of over 100,000 persons during events and holiday periods.

The Cowes wastewater treatment plant, which was a conventional extended aeration, activated sludge plant with disinfected effluent discharge to Bass Straight, was at full capacity. An analysis of treatment options recommended modifying the existing plant to biological nitrogen removal (BNR) rather than constructing a new plant.

The upgrade involved converting the

REGIONAL CONSUMERS

GIULIANO MARCON

www.awa.asn.au

wastewater treatment

PUBLIC SURVEY

51

58

www.awa.asn.au

PLANT EFFLUENT Effluent Discharge Licence Limit

2014 Jun 2015

Year (median)

4ML/day

Month (max)

8.6ML/day

8.5

8.4

BOD5

Year (median)

5mg/L

5

3

SS

Year (median)

10mg/L

2.7

JulySept 2015

Mean daily discharge Max discharge

3.2

4

5

Ammonia as N

Year (median)

5mg/L

0.4

0.2

Total N

Year (median)

45mg/L

28

14

Year (median)

15mg/L

8.9

Year (median)

200 org/100ml

Total P E. Coli

7.1

0

1

pH

Monthly range 6-9

6.5

7.4

Anionic surfactants

Month (max)

1mg/L

0.09

0.08

Total residual chlorine

Month (max)

1mg/L

0.78

0.75

www.awa.asn.au

59

industry trends, as well as do more to highlight individual members of the Association and their contributions to the industry.

Association President Peter Moore said the new magazine was a vehicle for driving greater understanding and appreciation between the Association’s members.

“There is an incredible array of stakeholders involved in the Australian water industry and in order to make the best use of our most valuable resource, these different stakeholders need an understanding of the broader contexts,” he said. “The Association’s members are credible, passionate, collaborative and innovative and Current magazine will reflect those values.”

NEW IMPETUS FOR TECHNICAL PAPERS To ensure the technical papers published by the Association benefit as wide an audience as possible and investigate an array of water issues they’ve been given a new digital home in the Water e-Journal.

By visiting the Water e-Journal at bit. ly/e-Journal, members can access all technical papers in a fully searchable, shareable and printable format. Current will publish executive summaries of the most recently received technical papers in each issue, with the full text and data available online.

Association Marketing Manager Ashleigh James says the new approach will improve knowledge-sharing among Australian water professionals

and boost the profile of work being done by the Association’s Specialist Networks.“By giving the technical papers a specially built home online, we are ensuring that Association members can access the latest thinking and insights in Australian water no matter where they are, no matter what time of day it is,” she said.

“A focus on publishing online also means we face no space restrictions, allowing us to increase the quantity of technical papers we publish, ensuring we delve more deeply into the many various specialties of our members.”

Publishing more papers will in time allow the Water e-Journal to become a fully accredited scientific journal.

www.awa.asn.au

13

Advertising feature

Turning on the biogas tap Across the world, biomethane (refined biogas) is used to power cars, towns, cities and industry. In Australia, the creation of renewable energy through biogas recovery is in many ways still in its infancy.

ark Lautre, General Manager of Operations at SUEZ in Australia & New Zealand argues that 2016 is the year that the Wastewater Treatment Plant needs to be seen as a resource.

A recent study by the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering found wastewater is largely an untapped resource in Australia, with untapped resources embedded in wastewater given a potential value of more than $5 billion.

The report found that once a treatment plant reaches typical mid-range size, the generation of biogas from sewage and waste and cogeneration of electricity becomes financially viable. Anaerobic co-digestion, high rate aerobic treatment and low energy mainline (LEM) anaerobic treatment methods are among the favourable options touted.

M

On the ground In Australia, there has been preliminary success in anaerobic co-digestion, the practice of introducing additional organic waste streams to the traditional anaerobic digestion process. An investment in codigestion can deliver operational and

maintenance savings with the potential for a new revenue stream from received organic wastes.

SUEZ and its joint-venture partner, Broadspectrum, in collaboration with SA Water, operates and maintains the water and wastewater services in metropolitan Adelaide.

Following a successful research program in 2010, a fully automated co-digestion plant was commissioned at the Glenelg Wastewater Treatment Plant in July 2013.

The plant now receives industrial liquid waste such as sugars, alcohols and other organic rich wastes that provide a boost to the site’s anaerobic digesters.

In the first two and a half years of operation, the co-digestion plant at Glenelg received 22.5ML of liquid waste products which produced an extra 1790MW of energy. This makes the Glenelg plant a bigger source of renewable energy than any single solar installation in South Australia. The generation of renewable energy has reduced the plant’s reliance on natural gas and grid electricity and reduced its carbon footprint by producing up to 84% of the power required on-site.

Global benchmarks On a global scale, technology is further advanced, with biogas increasingly being transformed into biomethane, which is injected directly into natural gas networks or used as a vehicle fuel source.

Since September 2015, SUEZ has demonstrated its renewable energy capability by assisting the Strasbourg Urban Community to become the first in France to inject biomethane produced from a local wastewater treatment plant into its natural gas network. In collaboration with the local distributor of natural gas, more than 1.6 million m3 of biomethane will be produced from wastewater each year. This provides a local, sustainable and low-carbon source of renewable energy.

SUEZ has been expanding the boundaries of biogas recovery, including opening a dedicated biosolids methanisation laboratory, with more than $15 million invested in research and development in the last eight years in this area alone. The opportunity for Australia and New Zealand is to now realise some of the $5 billion potential in our wastewater.

Member news

NEW FACE JOINS THE TEAM Membership in the spotlight ASSOCIATION’S NEW HIRE RAMPS UP MEMBER STRATEGY he Australian Water Association has appointed a Member Engagement Manager, as it rolls out a strategy to help the Association serve members more strongly than ever before.

Shona Gawel was appointed to the new role in January, having previously worked in both the public and private sectors in community engagement and membership development.

In the role, Gawel will be responsible for membership strategy, as the Association continues to roll out its ambitious plan to substantially increase the value it delivers to its members.

“A key strength of the AWA is our mix of members; from our corporate supporters, individuals in water professions, researchers, analysts, local authorities and government employees.

“We are truly representative of the sector and reflective of all that is taking place. I’m looking forward to sharing the work of the organisation with an even wider pool of people.”

One of Gawel’s first projects will be conducting a national membership survey, seeking the views of Association members from every corner of the water industry to gauge their views on

T

IT’S AN EXCITING 2016 FOR MEMBERS WITH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ORGANISATION’S IMPROVED DIGITAL STRATEGY. how the Association serves them.

“I’m aware of the challenges all membership organisations face and feel the Association is well placed to meet these,” she said.

“It’s an exciting 2016 for members with the implementation of the organisation’s improved digital strategy. Our new look website and members’ platform offers greater flexible and makes it easier to stay in touch.”

Gawel’s previous role was Head of Membership for international educational charity the English-Speaking Union.

HERTLE NAMED IWA FELLOW One of Australia’s most respected chemical engineers in the water sector has received one of the industry’s highest honours, being named a Fellow of the International Water Association (IWA).

Fellowships are awarded not only for distinguished contributions to the advancement of water science and technology, but for expectations of substantial future contributions.

As GHD’s Market Leader for Water, Hertle said he was honoured and humbled by the accolade, and excited by the progress being made in resource recovery from wastewater.

“There’s now a lot of interest in resource recovery – trying to get more out of wastewater and not talk about it as wastewater,” he said.

“The very first job I did at Brisbane City Council was to optimise the anaerobic digesters at Luggage Point to maximise the gas production.

“It’s been something that’s pretty close to my heart for 30-odd years.”

Hertle said there was also an increasing number of projects looking beyond just water and energy recovery from wastewater.

“More recently, people have been starting to look at nutrient recovery, which is still a bit out there because its value is quite small,” he said.

“The value of the water is number one, second the energy, and then the nitrogen and phosphorus come a poor third, really.”

Hertle is a member of the Research Advisory Committee at the Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence, and currently serves on a number of committees at the IWA. He said the fellowship would mean more involvement with the IWA. Congratulations to IWAA Chair Darryl Day, who was also recognised as an IWA Fellow.

www.awa.asn.au

15

International update

-

OPENING UP

ASIA

A TRADE DELEGATION TO VIETNAM HAS HIGHLIGHTED THE VAST OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE AUSTRALIAN WATER INDUSTRY IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA. BUT WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO CAPITALISE ON THOSE OPPORTUNITIES?

By Thea Cowie

lay the long game: that’s the key to securing the business opportunities tipped to boom across south-east Asia, says Australian Water Association International Manager Paul Smith.

“I absolutely believe now is the time to get on-board, do the groundwork and prepare for what could soar in terms of economic growth and opportunities for the Australian water sector,” Smith said. While things won’t happen overnight, longterm returns could be very significant. “It’s not wise for Australian companies to expect short-term gains,” he said. “If they do, that’s probably not in the best interests of the (local) water sector.”

Association CEO Jonathan McKeown agrees opportunities are enormous. “The scale of the needs in some of these Asian countries is largely unknown by the Australian water sector,” McKeown said. “The challenge lies in getting people ready and prepared for the market opportunities.”

P

LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS Promising foundations were laid in Vietnam in 2015, with the Association working to support the Vietnamese Government with their reform objectives, sending a delegation of 60 Australian water representatives to the VietWater Expo and Forum. Delegates included large and small firms, research groups, government and non-government organisations.

“All (companies) have indicated that they’ve made positive business leads, and over 80% have indicated they wish to participate in a return mission,” Smith said.

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Their trip to Vietnam has led to prospective public-private partnerships, exchange programs and technology transfers with government, the private sector, utilities and donors.

Smith said the face-to-face business introductions, workshops and on-the-ground experience arranged as part of the mission are key to maximising opportunites for Australia. “(South-east Asian cultures) very much require personal connections and relationships,” Smith said. Without those personal introductions, it’s very difficult to enter the market, he said. “One of the key pieces of feedback we got was the importance of the site visits, seeing how things work on the ground, talking to the practitioners and getting a real sense of the challenges and opportunities for business,” Smith said.

The Association is now looking to replicate the success of the Vietnam trip with another delegation to the region in 2016.

Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines are all being considered.“What we’re hearing is a very strong demand for, and a very strong level of trust in, Australian water services and technology,” Smith said.

“The reforms (the Australian water industry has) just come out of are in desperate need for many parts of the world where they’re only now starting their reform journey and managing new extremes in climate.”

DODGING PITFALLS But Australian organisations looking to venture into the region should do so with their eyes wide open, McKeown said.

“It’s not something you can do lightly, but you do need to commit resources and have very good risk management systems in place,” he said. “It’s not like just crossing a border of Australia to do business.”

As such, the Association is expanding its support network: it has established partnerships and signed Memoranda of Understanding with counterpart associations in Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Korea. Meanwhile moves to establish similar arrangements are being made in Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.

“Through our strong in-country relationships, but also through Austrade and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, we are able to provide a very strong network that the Australian water sector can tap into at any moment,” Smith said. “That could be legal issues, technology issues, trade issues.”

While countries in the region are developing at different rates and are at different stages of reform, a common challenge is obtaining safe, secure and sustainable water supply.

“Technology transfer is in high demand and advanced drinking water technology, wastewater treatment and all the technology associated with that – pumps, pipes, filters – are in need.”

It’s good timing for Australian firms looking to share their expertise gathered during Australia’s water reform journey.

“Over the last 15 years, the Australian water sector has invested many billions of dollars … we’ve emerged from our reform journey in a strong position but we did make mistakes and incur a lot of costs,” Smith said.

“We’re looking at a win-win for everyone – the Australian water sector, the Vietnamese water sector and humanity in general.”

For inquiries please contact Paul Smith, Association International Manager on 02 9467 8403.

LAY OF THE LANDS Indonesia Significant investments are needed in the water and sanitation sector, the World Bank said. “Inadequate water supply and sanitation undermines Indonesia’s status as a middleincome country,” a 2015 report found.

Opportunities abound in the country of 249 million people, which boasts south-east Asia’s largest economy.

Economic slowdown, and regulatory and legal uncertainty are apparent.

Myanmar In the capital Yangon, treated water is available to a small percentage of the population for part of the day.

Elsewhere, if water is supplied at all, it’s untreated, the Asian Development Bank said. The fledgling democracy of 53 million people has an impressive projected annual GDP growth rate of 8.2% in 2016. After decades of civil war Myanmar is opening up and

reviewing many of its legal and regulatory systems.

million people. Political changes and uncertainty have recently affected public and private investment.

Philippines The Philippines faces urgent infrastructure challenges, said the Joint Foreign Chambers of Philippines. Issues include poor sanitation and solid waste disposal systems, water shortages and flooding. The country of 99 million people is Asia’s third fastest growing economy but the JFC warns “prospective investors in the water supply sector have noted the lack of an economic regulator.”

Malaysia

Thailand

Sources: Asian Development Bank, World

The Board of Investment Thailand is looking to secure US$84 billion in funding for its national water sector strategy, which focuses on flood control. Demand for water is growing at 20% annually in the country of 67

Bank, tradingeconomics.com, Wall Street

As part of the Eleventh Malaysia Plan 2015-2020, the nation aims to strengthen the water services industry’s regulatory framework, increase efficiency, and expand supply and treatment capacity infrastructure.

Annual infrastructure spending in the country of 30 million people is expected to reach 9% by 2025.

Malaysia’s regulatory environment is considered relatively favourable.

Journal, Joint Foreign Chambers of Philippines, UNDP, KWM, Frost & Sullivan, Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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I N D U S T R Y F E AT U R E S INSIGHTS INTO AND ANALYSIS OF THE FORCES SHAPING THE AUSTRALIAN WATER INDUSTRY.

20 24 28

STANDING ATOP THE FLOODGATES Barnaby Joyce on his plans with the Federal water portfolio.

OLD HANDS AND FRESH HEADS How the Association’s mentoring program illuminated a career path.

DRAWING DEEP FROM THE DATA WELL Crippling drought has spurred the creation of an invaluable new water resource.

32 38 42

KEEPING THE SPARKS FLYING A break in drought has meant dryer times in water research. So what’s next?

WASTE NO MORE? Public opinion of recycled potable water has changed. What of the political will?

THE PRODIGAL SON RETURNS El Niño has long shaped the nation and the weather pattern’s work is far from over.

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19

Barnaby Joyce

Back in the

Saddle SETTLING THE DUST OF LAST YEAR’S FEDERAL LEADERSHIP SPILL TOOK WATER – SPECIFICALLY, TRANSFERRING THE WATER PORTFOLIO BACK TO THE NATIONALS, AND BARNABY JOYCE. AWA: You’ve pushed hard to have responsibility for water. What are your biggest goals with the portfolio?

Joyce: As an MP who lives in the Murray-Darling Basin, I have a keen understanding of the vital role that water plays in the Australian way of life. Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth, and efficient capture and storage of water will be critical to the continued profitability and productivity of Australian agriculture.

Water is the lifeblood of rural Australia, it’s the most basic and critical input to help feed and clothe our nation, and indeed many more across the world. We must recover water in ways that reduces water losses, maximise the amount of water available for productive use in irrigation communities, secure environmental flows and sustain Basin communities.

At the outset, my goal is to ensure that the Australian Government’s approach to water is based on strong links to the people who actually use the water – it’s common sense. So I am working to ensure that irrigators and local communities have a seat at the table alongside investors, mining and power industries, financiers, state and territory governments, local governments and construction companies. I’m committed to ensuring that Commonwealth-funded infrastructure investments, both

20

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on- and off-farm, make a significant contribution to the efficiency and productivity of irrigation regions.

AWA: What do you see as the biggest challenges for Australia in the near future in terms of water supply?

Joyce: We have before us some great opportunities to build capacity in water infrastructure. Water is wealth and stored water is a bank. It’s vitally important, therefore, that our water infrastructure, in terms of storage and irrigation capacity, keeps pace with the needs of the nation, including farmers, industry and regional communities and the cities. If no new dams are built in the future, Australia’s water storage capacity will fall to 2.6ML per person by 2050. This is a serious issue for us all.

The Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper is building on existing infrastructure commitments in Tasmania and the Murray-Darling Basin by investing a further $500 million in developing the nation’s water infrastructure. The Australian Government’s Water Infrastructure Ministerial Working Group has identified a shortlist of projects, and work has already begun on the Tasmanian Tranche II irrigation schemes and Chaffey Dam – it is vitally important that we get this right.

AWA: To what extent is this $500 million commitment an acknowledgement that investment in water infrastructure across the country has fallen behind?

Joyce: The Australian Government is already more than halfway through the rollout of more than $10 billion in projects to upgrade irrigation infrastructure and other projects, both in the Basin and across Australia.

This effort is being significantly expanded through the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund, which recognises that sound water management will be essential to the continued development of a strong and prosperous agriculture sector that takes its rightful place as a pillar of the Australian economy.

The fund is comprised of $50 million to undertake the detailed planning necessary to inform future water infrastructure investment decisions and $450 million

MY GOAL IS TO ENSURE THAT THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT’S APPROACH TO WATER IS BASED ON STRONG LINKS TO THE PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY USE THE WATER.

www.awa.asn.au www.awa.asn.au

21

Barnaby Joyce

construct national water infrastructure, in partnership with state and territory governments and the private sector. $200 million will be dedicated to northern Australia projects.

AWA: The ACCC recently released recommendations for overhauling Commonwealth water rules. Are you pleased with the direction of debate?

Joyce: The ACCC has made some constructive recommendations on improvements that could be made to the water charges rules. They have undertaken extensive consultation across the Basin during the past year. This included regional forums and meetings with a wide range of people – I attended the Tamworth consultation forum and was very impressed with the range and depth of discussion.

The ACCC has now released for public comment a range of improvements that could be made to the rules. These include improving the transparency and information around the determination of water charges and how the charges relate to service provision.

The ACCC has also provided suggestions for expanding protections against charging arrangements that unfairly advantage some water users, and they have identified how some water charge rules could be streamlined. There is plenty of scope identified in the ACCC’s draft recommendations.

AWA: In November, you said you want to change the culture at the Murray-Darling Basin Authority. How does Phillip Glyde’s appointment fit into that?

Joyce: Glyde brings a record of achievement particularly relevant to the Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA), through his extensive experience as a senior public servant in natural resource management and economics and involvement in complex state and Commonwealth issues.

I welcome the direction his leadership will provide to the MDBA at a very important time in the delivery of the Basin Plan.

PRODUCTIVE USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT CAN COEXIST WITH POSITIVE SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL OUTCOMES. AWA: Some quarters have raised concerns of conflict of interest in having agriculture and water under the oversight of one person. How do you balance competing demands?

Joyce: Our government is investing over $2.5 million per day to 2019 in the future sustainability of irrigated agriculture. This is our commitment to our environment and communities in the Basin.

With the increased efficiency, water savings are able to be recovered for the environment to deliver water to wetlands and environmental assets throughout the Basin.

I have long understood that productive use of natural resources for economic

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IF NO NEW DAMS ARE BUILT, AUSTRALIA’S WATER STORAGE CAPACITY WILL FALL TO 2.6ML PER PERSON BY 2050. growth and development can coexist with positive social and environmental outcomes. Family farmers represent some of Australia’s best examples of outstanding environmental stewardship. They have the greatest incentive of all to manage their land and water resources sustainably – the opportunity to pass that land on to the next generation in an even better condition.

We have a good history of working together in the Basin to deliver environmental water reforms; the Living Murray program is a substantial group of projects that are evidence of a shared commitment to delivering environmental outcomes.

We will continue to work with all parties to ensure that the triple bottom line continues to be addressed across all three aspects – social, economic and environmental.

AWA: The Department of Agriculture has been confirmed as a sponsor for the Association’s Water Innovation Forum and Expo in March. How important is water innovation in agriculture to you?

Joyce: Through the Basin plan, we’re investing in more efficient, state-of-the-art irrigation technologies that are helping to transform irrigation farms into more productive and more profitable enterprises. The Australian Government recognises the need for modern and innovative water infrastructure to give our producers water security and certainty – that’s why the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper set aside $500 million to set up a National Water Infrastructure Development Fund.

AWA: What sort of opportunities do you see in water?

Joyce: The biggest opportunity in the future of the water sector is to provide greater certainty to the communities who rely on water for irrigation. For example, in Western Australia there is a vast untapped water resource that warrants serious consideration by the dams ministerial task group, and further development of agriculture in Northern Australia will demand more reliable access to water throughout the year.

AWA: Some scientists are calling for a national approach to water banking. Is this on your policy radar?

Joyce: I recently called for expressions of interest under the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund and managed aquifer recharge will be eligible, so it’s well and truly on our radar. The proposal for a continentwide groundwater replenishment scheme is significant and will require a correspondingly significant investment in research, development and planning. A national water bank has significant merits, however, and I support the concept of what is proposed.

Industry

STEWART GIULIANO THE ASSOCIATION’S MENTORING PROGRAM HAS PROVED A CAREER-CHANGER FOR SCORES OF YOUNG WATER PROFESSIONALS, GIVING THEM ACCESS TO THE HARD-EARNED WISDOM OF INDUSTRY OLD HANDS.

G

iuliano Marcon was an engineer at the very beginning of his journey into the world of water when the Association’s mentoring program found him the perfect guide – CSIRO Professor Stewart Burn, whose decades of experience were vital in helping Marcon chart his own course.

Mentee GIULIANO MARCON KNOX CITY COUNCIL, VICTORIA

Mentee

Mentor

Giuliano

Stewart

Knox City Council,

CSIRO

Marcon

Burn

Victoria Age:

Age:

44

64

Industry experience

Industry experience

8 years

25 years

Knowledge gap

17 years

24

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My background is as a production engineer. When I chose production engineering, I was very young, and probably not mature enough to decide what I want to do with my life, but I had to choose.

There were a lot of things happening in my life at the time, but later I discovered I felt a lot more connected to the environment, and this piece was missing from my work as an engineer. After about seven or eight years working as an engineer, I decided I had to change direction and change where I would work, so I enrolled in the PhD course and started digging a bit more into water and environmental policies in general, all of which makes a lot more sense to me. I did my PhD in Brazil from 2001 to 2005 at the university of São Paulo’s School of Public Health.

The proposal was to assess how well São Paulo state’s water resource policy had been applied in practice. I’m glad that I made that decision, even if it’s a bit later in my life, it was worth it.

The Australian Water Association was running a mentoring program, and I was interested, and so I enrolled in the program and met Stewart on the day. We have similar research backgrounds, because my PhD is in water management and Stewart, at the time, was the senior principal scientist for Urban Water Systems Engineering at the CSIRO. Water helped us make the link.

THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME I’D EVER HAD A MENTOR DURING MY PROFESSIONAL CAREER, AND STEWART WAS VERY GENEROUS AND ATTENTIVE. IT WAS JUST FABULOUS...

HIS HELP WAS ESSENTIAL FOR ME, ESPECIALLY FOR OBTAINING MY EMPLOYMENT. GIULIANO MARCON

www.awa.asn.au

25

Industry

;OPZ ^HZ [OL Ä YZ[ [PTL 0»K L]LY OHK H TLU[VY K\YPUN T` professional career, and Stewart was very generous and attentive. It was just fabulous. Meeting Stewart and having his help was essential for me, especially for obtaining my LTWSV`TLU[ >OLU 0 Ä YZ[ JVUULJ[LK ^P[O [OL TLU[VYPUN program and started meeting with Stewart, I was not employed. Stewart certainly gave me a lot of time and a lot of HK]PJL NVPUN [OYV\NO [OH[ KPɉ J\S[ Z[HNL 0[ ^HZ JYP[PJHS YLHSS` 5V^ 0»T HU LU]PYVUTLU[HS OLHS[O Vɉ JLY H[ 2UV_ *P[` Council in one of Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. I’m one of the Vɉ JLYZ ^OV [HRLZ JHYL VM VU ZP[L ^HZ[L^H[LY THUHNLTLU[ systems for properties not served by sewage. ;OL QVI PU[LY]PL^ WYVJLZZ JHU IL YLHSS` KPɈ LYLU[ MYVT country to country, and so it really helped to have someone guide me through it here in Australia. Even if you think you know a culture – my then girlfriend, now my wife, is Australian – you are not completely aware of all the little nuances of culture. Stewart was essential in this case. He was able to put it all into words, and explain how I should approach the process.

He gave me endless advice, and it worked very well.

Stewart and I would keep things very informal when we’d meet up.

I’d bring things that I’d found to be the next thing that I’d need to achieve, and Stewart was able to give me advice on the way to proceed. Once I got the job, Stewart invited me to participate in research at CSIRO, so that was another door that Stewart opened for me.

In the future, I would possibly be a mentor. This was something that I was given, and I think it’s very important. You can never know how the little help that you may give can completely transform someone’s life, like in my case. Having Stewart STEWART BURN as a mentor changed my life, so I think it’s only fair to think about becoming a mentor one day.

This was my fourth time as a mentor through the Association program. I used to mentor at CSIRO also.

Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn’t, but Giuliano has probably been one of the ones that worked the best.

When it does work, it’s because there’s a rapport between the two of you. The mentee is looking for a relationship rather than just trying to use you. Giuliano wanted to look at recycling in local councils, and that was something I’d looked at in the past and was enthusiastic about. That matching of our backgrounds was quite critical. We’d meet up regularly.

He came to work at CSIRO one day a week as a volunteer, so we used to catch up regularly. It was usually pretty informal; we’d catch up for 10 minutes, quarter of an hour or so and just have a chat about what he was doing and where he was going.

For me, I hope I’ve got a good, SVUN [LYT MYPLUK MVY SPML ^P[O Giuliano. I saw how enthusiastic he was, but I also saw the KPɉ J\S[PLZ PU Ä UKPUN `V\Y opportunities when you’re starting out in your career. It’s probably not a lot harder now then when I was `V\UN I\[ P[ PZ KPɈ LYLU[ ZV 0 NV[ H [V[HSS` KPɈ LYLU[ WLYZWLJ[P]L HIV\[ the opportunities. Once you’re near the end of your career, the opportunities seem to come a lot easier for you, and you YLJVNUPZL OV^ KPɉ J\S[ P[ PZ MVY younger people to make their way in this industry. It’s a very tough industry to start out in. Most professions have a direct career path: they go to university, do a course, and then they know where they are going. But if you want to break into the water industry – do you do engineering, water management, these sorts of things? The relationship with Giuliano really brought out how KPɉ J\S[ [OH[ JHU IL I didn’t have a mentor when I ^HZ Ä YZ[ Z[HY[PUN V\[ PU [OL PUK\Z[Y` as a scientist, and that’s why the Association program is so valuable, because it does give that opportunity. I certainly would have found the mentor program ILULÄ JPHS PM P[ OHK ILLU HYV\UK ^OLU 0 ^HZ Z[HY[PUN V\[ 0[»Z just good to have someone, when you’re at a career junction and you don’t know quite where to go, who you can bounce PKLHZ VɈ HUK KPZJ\ZZ [OPUNZ ^P[O @V\ ULLK ZVTLVUL ^OV ^VU»[ [LSS `V\ ^OH[ [V KV I\[ ^PSS YLÅ LJ[ \WVU `V\Y PKLHZ HUK analyse them with you so you can get a better idea of what’s the best pathway to take.

YOU NEED SOMEONE WHO WON’T TELL YOU WHAT TO DO, BUT WILL REFLECT UPON YOUR IDEAS AND ANALYSE THEM WITH YOU SO YOU CAN GET A BETTER IDEA OF WHAT’S THE BEST PATHWAY TO TAKE.

Mentor PROFESSOR STEWART BURN CSIRO I signed up to the Association’s mentoring program because I wanted to give something back to the industry. A lot of people, when they are younger, are looking for somebody to VɈ LY ZVTL N\PKHUJL [V [OLT HUK 0 [OV\NO[ 0 OHK H MHPY IP[ of experience and could potentially help somebody in their career and which direction to take. It’s really just trying to give something back to the industry.

26

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To get involved in the Association’s mentoring program, as either a mentor or a mentee, contact your state branch.

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RIDING THE RAINFALL A LANDMARK NEW BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY REPORT HAS GATHERED TOGETHER AN UNPRECEDENTED SCALE OF DATA ON AUSTRALIAN WATER, HIGHLIGHTING ITS EVER-INCREASING VARIABILITY.

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technical Water features data xxxxxxxxxxxxx

rmchair meteorologists may surmise that Australia’s weather has become more variable in recent years. But the Bureau of Meteorology’s Water in Australia 2013–14 report looks further into recent conditions with respect to longer-term trends.

“We’ve gone from the absolute driest (conditions) in the spring of 2006, to the wettest during the La Niña years of 2010–11 and 2011–12,” Bureau Director Dr Rob Vertessy said.

“Australia’s water fortunes have basically turned on a dime in the space of less than a decade.”

Drawing upon decades of data, the report highlights the significant change in rainfall patterns since the middle of last century, with the changes most pronounced in high rainfall seasons – summer in the north and autumnwinter in the south.

Although the total average Australian rainfall increased by 50mm between 1970 and 2013, the majority of this increase has been in the sparsely populated north. Much of eastern Australia has experienced an average decrease in rainfall of up to 50mm per decade in that same period, while south eastern Australia and its population centres experienced the driest 13-year period on record between 1997 and 2009.

That decline in rainfall was mainly due to the failures of autumn and winter rainfall. This was true even during 2010–12, when the record-

A

WE COULD BE APPROACHING ANOTHER WATER SECURITY CRISIS. BUREAU DIRECTOR DR ROB VERTESSY

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AUSTRALIA’S OVERALL WATER USE

57%

Irrigation agriculture (13,400GL)

17%

Urban (3900GL)

9%

Plantations (2100GL)

8%

Farm dams (1900GL)

5%

Stock and domestic bores (1100GL)

3%

Mining (800GL)

1%

Non-hydro electricity generation (300GL)

TOTAL WATER USE 2013–14: 23,500GL Source: Bureau of Meteorology

breaking La Niña rainfall broke the Millennium Drought; the restoring rains were above-average summer rainfall and not part of a longer-term trend.

As the report examines, neutral El Niño conditions in 2013–14 were expected to bring a return to average rainfall but the trends of recent decades remained present.

“Many of the wetter conditions were driven by exceptional events or series of events occurring in some months, rather than being persistent seasons,” the report states. “In southern Queensland and northern NSW, the severe drought, that started in 2012, continued in 2013–14.”

OUT OF STREAM Volatile rainfall of course means volatile runoff generation and streamflow, but the report finds most water storages have remained in reasonable condition, thanks in part to the increasing reliance of many cities upon desalinated water supply and wider water recycling.

Courtesy of streamflows that have been among the lowest on record, however, the Murray-Darling Basin is facing below-average storage levels. The northern upstream reservoirs are at just 29% of total combined capacity, as of June 2014, according to the Bureau’s figures, levels similar to those recorded during the Millennium Drought.

The southern reservoirs are in better shape; at the same point in time, the Bureau’s figures put storages at 69% of total combined capacity. “We’re nowhere near the situation

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that we were in during the Millennium Drought but we are in the early stages of what could become a significant drought in the future,” Vertessy said. “We could be approaching another water security crisis.”

WHEN IN DROUGHT The report itself is a product of the Millennium Drought, which prompted a Federal Government realisation that not enough was known about the status of Australia’s water.

Bureau Deputy Director (Environment and Research) Graham Hawke said it is with that in mind that the report places findings in an historical context.

“The report is very helpful to understand how the current context, in any regional basis, fits into the historical norm,” he said. “So if you’ve got a drought on – is it just an average drought or the worst in a century? Just having an understanding of how the water availability scenario fits in the long-term record is very helpful context when you’re making decisions.”

The report is designed to inform government decisionmaking. “Say you’re in Western Australia – you could compare how continuing drying conditions around Perth and in their storages remains a remarkable story,” he said.

“Or if you’re making a decision about the need to supplement water supply with seawater desalination, having an understanding of how things are changing is a very useful context.”

Water data

REVEL IN THE DETAILS

IF YOU’RE MAKING A DECISION ABOUT THE NEED TO SUPPLEMENT WATER SUPPLY WITH DESALINATION, UNDERSTANDING HOW THINGS ARE CHANGING IS A VERY USEFUL CONTEXT. BUREAU DEPUTY DIRECTOR (ENVIRONMENT AND RESEARCH) GRAHAM HAWKE

With a large portion of business reliant on water, the Bureau is hoping the private sector will tap into the report too. For example, Hawke said, “it may help investment bankers decide on where to invest in agribusiness, provide useful information for international mining companies, help environmental water owners looking to allocate water, or assist irrigators in deciding whether to trade or use their water.”

While it’s early days for the Water in Australia report, the Bureau hopes it will be the first of many. “It’s our intent that this will become an annual report and over time it will help us to better understand and learn from the past, (so we can) better manage our water resources,” Hawke said.

Water in Australia 2013–14 quantifies and describes key indicators of physical water resources: rainfall, groundwater, streamflow and the drivers of specific conditions for the financial year. It also provides data and analysis on a range of water use and availability factors: water entitlements, storages, supply, human use and environmental use.

While the report provides a broad overview of Australia’s water situation, two complementary online tools – Regional Water Information and Monthly Water Update – provide all the detail.

The Bureau’s Graham Hawke said the tools have been designed to be extremely practical.

“Regional Water Information makes (data) available online, on-demand,” he said.

It allows users to retrieve data on hydroclimatic conditions, water use, trends and averages, rainfall, evapotranspiration, soil moisture, runoff, streamflow and groundwater.

Users can also dictate the temporal and spatial parameters of the data – from national, state or territory level, right down to river region level.

“You can drill in, self-help, produce your own maps graphs or statistics, download them and export them for your own report or usage,” Hawke said. “You can very quickly produce decile maps or maps that show how a particular month compares to the historical average,” Hawke said.

Meanwhile, the Monthly Water Update puts the latest local rainfall and streamflow data into historical perspective. It draws on provisional information from 222 gauging stations to interpret the hydrological status of surface water flows across the country.

The three products combine and build upon information previously available in the Australian Water Resources Assessment – which came out every second year and provided data on a larger basement scale, and the annual National Water Account summary – which covers ten regions where more than 70% of Australian water is used.

“So what Water in Australia does is it comes out more regularly, it draws upon the popularity of National Water Account, as well as having complete spatial coverage of Australia,” Hawke said. “It’s part of a comprehensive programme to meet Australia’s water information needs.”

For more information on any of these products, visit bom.gov.au/water

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Sustainability research

H C R A E E U S C E R ES

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R

A RECENT AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION REPORT FOUND WATER PROFESSIONALS RANK RESEARCH INTO SUSTAINABLE WATER MANAGEMENT AS A TOPTHREE PRIORITY FOR THE SECTOR. BUT GOVERNMENT FUNDING ISN’T ALWAYS FLOWING THE WAY MANY HOPE. Chelsea Wallis

www.awa.asn.au www.awa.asn.au

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Sustainability research

E

very cloud has a silver lining, even when that cloud happens to be the worst Australian drought since European settlement. While the Millennium Drought wreaked havoc across a sunburnt nation, it also brought to the forefront the importance of making the most of Australia’s water resources.

That meant a relative boom in research into sustainable water use, to help better prepare the country for the next sweeping drought. But when the drought finally broke in the early 2010s, it gave governments breathing room to recalibrate their priorities, with funds for water research suddenly appearing less vital.

This attitude was also present in the first budget of Tony Abbott’s Federal Government, which saw funds for research and scientific organisations such as the CSIRO among those on the chopping block. CSIRO Land and Water Program Team Leader Sébastien Lamontagne began working in Australia 16 years ago, around the time when the effects of the Millennium Droughts were starting to show.

“During that period in particular and the focus on water resources in the Murray-Darling Basin, meant there was relatively good funding available – it was a golden age for hydrogeological research,” he said. “The difference now is that there is still funding available, but it’s more fragmented.

The timeframe for the work has also contracted.”

His team, which works on groundwater dating methods, finds it harder to fund projects that last more than 18 months.

“The turnaround time between projects is very short now considering some of the difficulties in doing research on groundwater in remote areas, where just getting permission

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to access wells can take many months, let alone sampling or getting results back,” he said.

“Probably the most challenging aspect of our work right now is we have numerous small- to medium-sized projects on a relatively short timeframe.”

DOWNWARD PRESSURE Professor Christopher Saint, Director of the University of South Australia’s Centre for Water Management and Reuse, said although there were signs of a waning investment in research, it was not limited to sustainable water use.

“But if you talk to people in areas other than water research, they say pretty much the same thing. It’s the economic climate we’re in at the moment,” he said.

“For instance, we’re going through the cycle at the moment of applying for ARC (Australian Research Council) grants, and we’re all finding it increasingly difficult to get support from industry. These and other leverage opportunities are more difficult, so industry is suffering as well as government at the moment.”

However, some – such as UNSW Water Research Centre and School of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s Professor T David Waite – said water research funding

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BEST ON SHOW Many of those at the cutting edge of Australian water research will gather at the Royal Randwick racecourse in Sydney on March 10–11 for the Australian Water Association Water Innovation Forum and Expo.

Professor Zhiguo Yuan is just one of more than two dozen speakers from all sectors of the water industry, including urban water management, wastewater energy generation, emerging chemicals and commercialising innovations.

For more information on the Forum, see our coverage on page 76 or visit bit.ly/InnForum

INNOVATION NATION One of the first major initiatives announced by then-newly installed Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull last year was $1.1 billion fund to boost innovation and the science sector.

He gave prominence to statistics routinely placing Australia at the bottom of the ranks of OECD countries when it comes to collaboration between businesses and research.

The investment package is aimed at encouraging businesses to embrace risk and invest early in start-ups, while also increasing the level of engagement between businesses and the academic and research sector for solving problems and commercialising solutions.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has also updated its National Water

Use in Agriculture Research, Development & Extension (RD&E) strategy to give a wider array of stakeholders a say in developing water research targets.

The strategy was developed by a committee drawing upon the Federal and State Governments, CSIRO, Dairy Australia and national research and development corporations.

Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Barnaby Joyce said the new strategy would facilitate a major acceleration in water research, development and extension activities.

“The focus of this strategy will be on activities that help farmers maximise water efficiency and establish world-leading farm water productivity,” he said.

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Sustainability research

NEW BEGINNINGS

NATIONAL WATER COMMISSION CLOSED DECEMBER 2014 With the National Water Commission Act of 2004 repealed, the commission closed its doors. The Productivity AUSTRALIAN WATER RECYCLING Commission has taken over assessing CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE ESTIMATED WRAP-UP SEPTEMBER 2016 progress towards the National Water Initiative objectives. The Department of Begun with a Federal grant in 2010, the the Environment is responsible for Centre’s mandate was to develop industry relevant IP to benefit Australia’s providing implementation updates on water sector. CEO Mark O’Donohue said the National Water Initiative to the Clean Energy Regulator. The Australian the water sector’s interest in key project Bureau of Agricultural and Resource outcomes is helping shape the Centre’s Economics is now monitoring water approach to establishing legacy markets and the Bureau of Meteorology arrangements for the development and is continuing the national urban implementation of these program performance reports. outcomes beyond its final report.

While some research and development facilities are closing their doors, steps are being taken to hold on to intellectual property (IP) generated.

NATIONAL CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN DESALINATION ESTIMATED WRAP-UP JUNE 2016 CEO Neil Palmer is working with research and industry partners to prepare an application for round 17 of the CRC program, as research with the current centre is expected to wrap-up before June. He expects it to focus on impaired resources such as saline groundwater, municipal and agricultural wastewater, seawater, and oil- and gas-produced water.

tended toward a cyclical nature. “When there is a water shortage, we see higher priority given to water R&D,” he said. “But we are seeing funding from the Federal Government increasingly following industry-led innovation. In the water industry, there is a lag in innovation because it can be conservative.

“Our research is often industry led, but it’s not Australian industry – it’s Chinese industry. We’re finding industry in other countries much more willing to take a risk and invest in R&D, because they see that as the future for their industry. That’s not the case at this point in Australia.”

KEEPING FUNDING FLOWING But even as research funding flows have lessened, many Australian research centres are thriving. In the case of UNSW’s Water Research Centre, Waite says diverse research activity has been vital to keeping it growing successfully.

“When one area perhaps becomes less topical or well funded, another area is there to perhaps pick up, and step in and take over,” he said, adding that there are some key components for successful research centres.

“One is good funding from government and industry, and that comes from doing great, wide-ranging research. The other is publication, in both high-quality, peer-reviewed journals and in the more problem-oriented consulting reports that have been a benefit to the industry.”

The importance of delivering solutions to industry problems is echoed by Professor Zhiguo Yuan, Director of the University of Queensland’s Advanced Water Management Centre [AWMC]. “In the last 10 to 15 years, we have been very strongly focusing on the partnership between industry and universities,” he said. “Researchers must strongly link

36

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their research to the reality and work with the industry to identity the right problems to solve.” “[AWMC] has roadshows across Australian capital cities to present our latest research outcomes and ideas, to see which ones interest our industry partners, and also to discuss with our partners what water problems they have,” he said. “That interaction has been very beneficial. Based on that sort of communication, we developed a lot of collaborative research projects, between the centre and our partners.

“When you work very closely together, any solutions you deliver can find its way to practice, to implementation. That real world implementation of science and technologies is critical because then, from our perspective, we see the impact of our research from the industry.”

SWIMMING WITH THE TIDE When the Australian Water Association surveyed its members last year, research into sustainable water management was judged as the third most important sector for reform, after asset maintenance, and increasing the operational efficiency.

In fact, more than a third identified it as the top priority.

But there are reasons to be positive. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has made it clear that he wants his government to also be known for making innovation and research a top priority [see breakout box, previous page].

And with the Bureau of Meteorology’s recent Water in Australia highlighting the extent of Australia’s drying trend, a renewed focus on sustainability research is easy to envision.

“We are heading into another period of drought, so we may see more pressure to again fund water R&D,” UNSW’s Professor T David Waite said.

Potable water recycling

Waste NO MORE? IN RECENT YEARS, THE CHIEF OBSTACLE TO WIDESPREAD USE OF RECYCLED WATER FOR POTABLE SUPPLY HAS BEEN POLITICAL, NOT TECHNOLOGICAL. BUT THERE ARE SIGNS THE TIDE COULD BE TURNING. Joshua Hoey

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ustralia has long been notorious for drought but recent spates of dry weather, many fuelled by El Niño phases, have made water security a hotter topic than usual in many parts of the country.

Widespread and prolonged dry spells last decade prompted many authorities to get serious about water security, with many state governments introducing various water-use restrictions. They also turned to alternative drinking water sources such as seawater desalination and, to a vastly lesser degree, wastewater recycling schemes to ensure drinking water supplies.

While recycling wastewater is typically cheaper, consumes less energy, and produces less waste than desalination, Australian state government’s have prioritised seawater desalination plants over managed wastewater recycling when it comes to potable supply. Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria all have seawater desalination plants, yet Australia’s first

A

FUNDAMENTALLY, THE CHALLENGE OF PRODUCING SAFE RECYCLED WATER ISN’T A TECHNICAL ONE. IT’S HOW WE GET THE POLITICAL WILL TO DRIVE SOME OF THESE CHANGES.

potable recycled water scheme – Perth’s groundwater replenishment scheme (GRS) – won’t start operating until the end of this year.

WA is currently embracing recycled potable water, but its history in the eastern states has been sketchy. In 2006, the resident’s of Toowoomba voted against a recycled potable water scheme that would have supplied 25% of the town’s drinking water [see breakout below]. Nearby, at the height of Brisbane’s water shortage crisis in 2006-07, the Queensland Government spent $2.3 billion building the Western Corridor Water Recycling Scheme.

The series of three plants is one of the largest in the world, but has never supplied the city with drinking water as was originally intended, and currently sits in care and maintenance mode at an annual cost of more than $10 million. University of NSW Associate Professor Stuart Khan said that public perception played a role in the scheme being mothballed. A government promise aimed at avoiding potential political fallout means the plant will only supply drinking water if levels in Wivenhoe dam drop below 40%, which Khan said is unlikely in the next 20 years. “The scheme is a white elephant now as long as that policy is in place,” he said.

CHANGING TASTES However, community attitudes appear to have shifted dramatically. The Australian Water Association’s recent Australian Water Association Consumer Outlook surveyed 3300 community members across Australia and found that 69% agreed recycled water could be made safe for drinking.

CASE STUDY: LOSING HEARTS AND MINDS In 2006, Toowoomba’s council unveiled a plan to indirectly top up its water supplies with recycled wastewater. The project, known as Water Futures, would have used multistage treatment including reverse osmosis and advanced oxidation to purify wastewater before mixing it with the town’s supply of drinking water in Cooby Dam. It would have been Australia’s first potable recycled water scheme, and would have provided 5000ML a year of drinking water – or a quarter of the overall supply – to a town that had been under water restrictions since 1991.

The local council announced the policy ahead of a planned three-year community engagement program aimed at educating consumers about the proposal. Citizens Against Drinking Sewerage, a local public interest group, got a head start on

Cooby Dam, Toowoomba

Toowoomba Council in the public relations battle, and in six months collected 10,000 signatures, politicising the issue.

Then-Mayor Di Thorley oversaw a $460,000 campaign in favour of the scheme, but a minority of dissenting councillors, along with local millionaire property developer Clive Berghofer, focused on resident’s fears about drinking treated sewage.

The no campaign focused on the “yuck” factor and the idea that Toowoomba would be a guinea pig for the rest of Australia. In the end, 62% of Toowoomba’s residents voted against the scheme.

Instead, a pipeline from Brisbane’s Wivenhoe dam was built to supply the needed water, at a cost of $187 million. Engineers estimated Water Futures would have cost $68 million.

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Meanwhile, the Australian Water Association’s State of the Water Sector 2015 report found 78% of water professionals say direct potable water recycling should be investigated as a potential future water supply strategy.

ARUP Australasia Water Leader Daniel Lambert said when they presented the fi gures to the National Water Summit, industry leaders were surprised by the level of public support. “There has been a signifi cant shift in public sentiment, and I don’t necessarily believe the industry was aware of how big that shift has been,” he said.

Norman Disney & Young Global Sustainability Director Tony Arnell said droughts, water shortages, and water restrictions have driven a palpable shift in attitude around potable water recycling and the readiness to embrace change. “[Drought conditions] demonstrated at the time that water management in Australia, being the driest continent on earth, need to be dealt with in a very careful way,” he said.

THERE HAS BEEN A SIGNIFICANT SHIFT IN PUBLIC SENTIMENT. “Ten years on and droughts are back – El Niño is back. People are getting concerned. Changing weather patterns and climate change is forcing the public to reconsider their previous aversion to recycling wastewater for potable use.”

OLD STANDARD While attitudes around potable recycled water may have changed, the technology used to treat wastewater has largely stayed the same. WA’s water recycling project uses a very similar treatment process as the one proposed for Toowoomba in 2006. “I don’t think there’s been any quantum leaps in terms of new technologies coming out,” Arnell said.

Reverse osmosis remains the gold standard of sorts for purifying wastewater, and it’s combined with fi ltration and ultraviolet in much the same way as it was fi ve or 10 years ago. While the basic technology has stayed the same, there have been advances in membrane technology that mean lower power consumption and running costs.

“We’re seeing advances in applying process together and seeing synergistic effects, like ozone with ceramic membranes,” Lambert said.

“Fundamentally, the challenge of producing safe recycled water isn’t technical. It’s how we get the political will to drive some of these changes.”

In Perth’s GRS example, a trial plant was established not only to test the technology, but to develop the regulatory regime the state’s Health Department would use to regulate the plant, and to give the community confidence in that at no stage would anyone’s health be put at risk.

Potable water recycling

CHANGING WEATHER PATTERNS AND CLIMATE CHANGE ARE FORCING THE PUBLIC TO RECONSIDER ITS PREVIOUS AVERSION TO RECYCLING WASTEWATER. Queensland’s experience with its Western Corridor Recycling Plants showed the risk of not bringing the community along on the journey. The combination of rainfall into their dams and a lack of community support lead to the newly constructed plants not becoming part of their scheme.

TWO ROUTES While there seems to be little doubt potable recycling schemes will be the subject of more discussion in the future, it is unlikely any major Australian city will follow Perth’s GRS example too closely, thanks to the Western Australian capital’s unusual geology.

The city has three significant groundwater aquifers in layers directly beneath it, making it readily possible and comparatively cheap to inject high-quality water back into the aquifers. This opportunity is either not possible or much more difficult in for most of the other major capital cities.

While many other indirect potable recycling schemes pump treated water into lakes and dams – as proposed in Toowoomba – numerous utilities overseas are forgoing such environmental buffers and making increasing forays into direct potable recycling.

Direct schemes are generally cheaper and less energy intensive than indirect schemes but face other issues, such as a more challenging public perception and less time to respond to potential water treatment incidents. In the event of something going wrong, most indirect schemes allow utilities to discard that water and avoid potential health risks. In direct reuse, however, treated water is often introduced straight into the water supply, raising the possibility that unsafe water could be released into a scheme before operators are aware there is a problem.

Water utilities rely not only on their skill or their financial capacity but the trust of their communities. The loss of this trust compromises the ability of utilities to operate in their communities, in many cases regardless of their skill set or financial position. However, direct potable recycling can also offer greater scalability, which is why towns like Big Spring and Wichita Falls in Texas, both of which have populations under 100,000, are already using the technology.

Drought-stricken rural and regional towns are where Arup’s Daniel Lambert sees the most potential for potable water recycling in Australia, thanks to the fact most of the capital cities have desalination plants providing some water security. “We’ve now got excess capacity for most of the major cities on the east coast, so while water recycling would be more cost effective, the immediate debate about it is not happening,” he said.

Regardless, as the US builds more potable recycled water schemes and with Australia’s first managed scheme coming online next year, water’s future is looking increasingly like a recycled one. “World trends show us that we are transitioning pretty rapidly, not withstanding some of the jurisdictions that might be lagging,” Norman Disney & Young’s Tony Arnell said. “I think it’s pretty inevitable that is where we are going to land.”

CASE STUDY: BRINGING THE COMMUNITY ONBOARD Western Australia is well-advanced with what is set to be Australia’s first operational potable recycled water scheme.

Water Corporation said the Groundwater Replenishment Scheme (GRS) will be operational by the end of 2016 and will initially recharge Perth’s Leederville and Yarragadee aquifers with 14,000ML per year of recycled wastewater. The GRS will use filtration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet to treat wastewater before it’s injected into the aquifers and filtered further.

Other potable recycled water schemes have faced public resistance, but Perth’s recycling scheme has enjoyed strong support from the local community. WA Water Minister Mia Davies said community

engagement is central to the schemes success. “Keeping the community well informed and on board is crucial as we introduce this new water source to our capital city’s water supply late next year,” she said.

Water Corporation ran a trial of the scheme from 2009 to 2012 and purpose built a visitors centre to help inform the local community about the technology. Water Corporation’s Assets Delivery General Manager Mark Leathersich said the aim was to bring the community on board with the journey and educate people about why groundwater replenishment is so important.

The centre had more than 11,000 visitors during the trial, and visitor surveys indicated support of over 90% once people had seen the GRS

treatment processes. Annual community surveys carried out since 2009 show support for the scheme has remained steady at 76%.

Leathersich said the trial was based on a successful model used

by California’s Orange County for a similar scheme, and that changing weather patterns were also playing a role.

“Most people in Perth are getting used to drier winters and understand the need to develop new water sources that don’t rely on rainfall,” he said.

The plant is being built with the ability to double its capacity to 28,000ML a year, with the feedwater pumping station and other structures already designed to handle the increased capacity.

www.awa.asn.au

41

El NiĂąo

42

www.awa.asn.au www.awa.asn.au

EL NIÑO HAS BEEN SHAPING MODERN AUSTRALIA IN FUNDAMENTAL WAYS SINCE BEFORE FEDERATION, AND THE LONG DRY SUMMER SHOWS IT IS NOT FINISHED YET. David Barbeler

www.awa.asn.au www.awa.asn.au

43

El Niño

T

his summer has been defined by fire, with a bushfire season that has started early, hit hard, and brought blazes to places which are rarely dry enough to burn.

Blazes in Victoria, South Australia and southwest Western Australia left hundreds of people homeless and at least six dead. Not coincidentally, these regions are all suffering severe long-term drought which has been exacerbated by the El Niño of the past year. Bureau of Meteorology records show Victoria had its driest year since 2006, intensifying its long-term deficits in rainfall. South-west Western Australia, meanwhile, experienced its sixth-driest cool (April to October) season on record. Annually, the region received nearly 200mm less than average the fourth dry year in a row.

Helping drive those aberrant conditions was, of course, El Niño, in what some believe has been its most powerful global incarnation in the last century, with NASA climatologist Bill Patzert forecasting it as having “the potential of being the Godzilla El Niño”.

But the Australian experience shows that the strength isn’t everything, with 1997–98 and 2006–2007 two prime examples.

The 1997–98 El Niño is one of the strongest on record.

However, the Bureau categorises its impact on Australia as ‘weak’, with crops and water reservoir inflows benefitting from widespread rainfall in May and September.

On the other hand, the 2006–07 El Niño was classified as ‘weak’ by the Bureau, yet its impact on Australia’s east coast –

and further inland – was devastating. The Millennium Drought stretched from 2001 to 2009 in most places around the country, but 2006 was particularly brutal.

Annual rainfall was 40–60% below normal over most of the country south of the Tropic of Capricorn and east of central South Australia. The arid conditions, which in Perth and Tasmania were the driest on record, were especially apparent during fire season.

SIZING UP With close to a third of Australia’s economic activity stemming from water-sensitive industries, the Millennium Drought caught the attention of policy-makers in a big way. As the Bureau’s Deputy Director (Environment and Research) Graham Hawke highlights, agricultural output fell by an estimated 24%, agricultural output dropped 46% and approximately 100,000 people in agriculture-related fields were left out of a job. In cities and towns, water restrictions were widespread.

On Australia Day in 2007, then-Prime Minister John Howard announced a $10 billion National Plan for Water Security, with the intent of significantly increasing Australia’s drought tolerance, while governments of all levels scrambled to harden their drought resistance. Nowhere did these efforts have more at stake than in the Murray-Darling Basin. From southern Queensland, through the heart of New South Wales, down into Victoria and across to South Australia, one of the largest river systems in the world is also one of the driest.

FROM SUBMARINES TO SATELLITES The technology that goes into measuring the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the Pacific Ocean is staggering.

Bureau of Meteorology Climate Prediction Services Manager Dr Andrew Watkins said the devastating super El Niño of 1982–83 triggered the surge in technology.

One of the strongest El Niño events on record, it led to widespread flooding in the US and droughts in Australia, with an estimated economic impact of more than US$8 billion.

“It kicked the science and engineering world into gear,” Watkins says. “It got many scientists thinking about what we need to do to protect ourselves, or give ourselves warning.”

Most of the technology looks to measure how warm ocean waters are in the central equatorial Pacific.

“To do that we use, both polar orbiting and geostationary satellites,” he says.“There are also ships of opportunity that cross between Australia and the Americas, and they give observations by throwing little

44

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expendable bathythermographs into the water, to measure ocean temperatures at various depths.”

There is also an array of sensors, set out in a grid along the equator, as part of the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere program. Then there are underwater gliders. “They look like little aircraft, and they glide underneath the surface of the ocean taking measurements,” Watkins says.

“There are also about 4000 Argo buoys across the global ocean sending measurements to the satellite for us.”

But it’s not just the water temperature that’s measured.

Meteorologists also examine the Southern Oscillation Index, giving an indication of the development and intensity of El Niño or La Niña events by measuring atmospheric pressure differences between Tahiti and Darwin.

“We take all this data, shove it into our computer model, and then forecast forward,” Watkins says. In May 2015, computer modelling

suggested the ocean would be 2.4 degrees above normal by October.

“Indeed we were 2.2 or 2.3 degrees above normal come October. I find it phenomenal that the combination of modelling and observations gave us such a heads-up that this was going to be such a strong event,” Watkins says.

“Disaster management plans can be put in place early, and talk of El Niño had people planting more drought-resistant crops – taking a little less risk – as well as being more conservative with how they use water,” he says. But other sectors benefit too.

“Insurance and aid agencies in Australia, for example. During El Niño, you get fewer tropical cyclones but more heatwaves and bushfires,” Watkins says. “We’ve even had contact from retail companies – a women’s clothing chain for instance – wanting to know whether to get the summer fashions in early.”

For more information on BoM’s predictive products, visit bom.gov.au/water

THE 2006–07 EL NIÑO WAS CLASSIFIED AS WEAK BY THE BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY YET ITS IMPACT ON AUSTRALIA’S EAST COAST – AND FURTHER INLAND – WAS DEVASTATING .

Smack-bang in the middle of where El Niño hits Australia hardest, action has been taken to strengthen the Basin’s health through the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Despite the current El Niño having a major impact on inflows, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s (MDBA) Executive Director of River Management David Dreverman is confident those who depend on the basin will get by, thanks to reasonable volumes in their storages, particularly Dartmouth Dam. “If they’ve survived the last 16 years, they should survive this one. Our concern is more if it continues,” Dreverman said.

“Reserves in the southern Basin get you through one year of dry but they don’t get you through two. That means we will be solely dependent on rainfall and run-off this winter and spring.”

But Dreverman said the Murray-Darling Basin is in much better condition now than during the El Niño of 2006 – the Basin’s driest inflow year on record – and will continue to be

so even if inflows remain similarly low over the next few years, thanks to post-Millennium Drought upgrades.

“Victoria introduced individual carry-over for irrigators, state governments changed the way they allocate water, we got a little more conservative about estimating future inflows and we’ve put away conveyance reserves to make sure we can deliver water next year. We’ve also got a drought reserve that we’ve put aside in the Snowy Scheme, and some of the water trade barriers have been removed,” Dreverman said.

But irrigators and farmers shouldn’t rely on government policies to get through the hard times. “Next year is looking more like what we saw through the Millennium Drought than what people might realise,” Dreverman said. He said individual irrigators can balance their risk by carrying over more water next year. “At the moment, people might be tempted to sell water because the water market is at a good price, but hanging on to a bit of water would be prudent risk management,” he said.

PUSHING BACK Not everyone shares MDBA’s confidence. In November, a Senate inquiry into the Basin Plan heard about deep uncertainty within the farming sector following the water reforms, with the depth of opposition prompting some landholders to call for a Royal Commission. Water trading and environmental flows have come in for special criticism, with the NSW Irrigators’ Council CEO Mark McKenzie sharing his concerns.

“The purchase of water for the environment has shortened the pool of water for temporary trade back into productive

DRY, DUSTY ROOTS OF A NATION Down came a jumbuck to drink at the water-hole, Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him in glee; And he sang as he put him away in his tucker-bag, ‘You’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me.’…

It might be Australia’s most recognisable song, but it’s a rarely appreciated fact that Waltzing Matilda was born from the harsh realities of the Federation Drought, which led to economic crisis, mass unemployment, and many of the nation’s swagmen desperate for food and work.

Banjo Paterson wrote the nation’s unofficial anthem one year into the eight-year drought while staying in western Queensland in 1895. From state to state, the drought sucked the life from previously fertile landscape, but united the country in the process.

As the creek beds continued to dry in 1901, so too did the ink on Australia’s Constitution.“The drought recognised no borders. This arguably had two effects. One was to enforce the sense

of common identity and shared adversity as ‘Australians’,” writes climate historian Don Garden.

“Second, the common experiences of economic hardship during the drought also made many colonists more aware of the potential financial benefits of political unity.”

The rainfall deficit, heatwaves, dust storms and bushfires during this period were the result of three El Niño events in quick succession.

Newspaper articles at the time report of mass breakouts in disease and death due to poor water quality and a lack of sanitation.

“The sky a great, flaming oven.

Grass withered; water gone; faminestricken, blear-eyed bullocks, staggering pathetically,” wrote The

Sydney Bulletin during the drought’s climax in June 1902 during a visit to western Queensland.

“Skeletons and bones everywhere.

A fetid smell in the air. The hateful crow flickering from carcase (sic) to carcase in fiendish exultation. A sleepless night, battling with mosquitoes and other insect pests. Daylight, and a repetition of the same thing.”

The nation wouldn’t receive consistent and widespread rainfall relief until March 1903, with a moderate La Niña event replenishing large swathes of the country.

And while the environmental landscape would eventually revert back to its old self in years to come, the nation’s political landscape and psyche would remain forever changed.

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45

El Niño

Mean rainfall decile ranges Decile 10 Decile 9 Decile 8 Decile 7 Decile 5,6 Decile 4 Decile 3 Decile 2 Decile 1

Winter—spring mean rainfall deciles 12 medium—strong El Niño events Distribution based on gridded data Australian Bureau of Meteorology

agriculture,” he said. “We’re seeing in this very season, prices spiking quite alarmingly for a lot of people who simply are priced out of that market.”

However, La Trobe University Economics Professor Lin Crase said the water market is a success story and should be protected from knee-jerk political intervention. As Director of the university’s Centre for Water Policy and Management, he recently oversaw the Centre’s annual water forum, which pondered the question ‘Are we ready for the next drought?’.

“I think the conclusion was, on the whole, yes. But in some cases, no,” Crase said. More needs to be done to ensure people’s preparedness for drought is adequate enough with or without assistance from the government, he said.

BUILDING BOOM The Federal Government can currently boast of spending $2.5 million a day on rural infrastructure and efficiency projects, and environmental watering, but the El Niño-fuelled scare of 2006–07 inspired a boost in spending elsewhere that was no less marked. In fact, spending on water infrastructure construction more than doubled between 2007 and 2008.

Much of that spending was on desalination plants, with Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and south-east Queensland all building large plants to buffer their urban supplies. In the past decade, around AU$10–12 billion has been spent investigating and developing these water sources. At full capacity, those five plants alone could supply more than 520GL annually.

Most of those plants currently sit in maintenance mode, on the east coast at least, waiting for metropolitan water supplies to dwindle enough to justify their use. But even with that unused capacity, between 2008 and 2014, the amount of desalinated water produced in Australia leapt more than fivefold, from 33GL to more than 177GL. These efforts, combined with widespread downward trends in per capita household water use, means

46

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most Australian cities and towns have been able to weather this El Niño and the preceding dry weather without the restrictions which characterised past droughts.

Despite a number of years of below average rainfall, most of Victoria is withstanding the dry times in good stead, although up to 50 towns could ultimately be hit by water restrictions. But State Water Minister Lisa Neville is unequivocal in her praise for recent efforts to harden the state’s water supply.

“This situation has not come about by chance,” she said.

“The Millennium Drought [required] hundreds of Victorian towns and cities, including Melbourne, to endure water restrictions to save our urban water supplies.

“Many valuable lessons were learned and important improvements to our water infrastructure and consumption patterns were made. These improvements were given greater urgency by the knowledge that climate change is likely to make drought conditions more frequent in the future.”

Meanwhile, in Queensland, modelling shows that even if the state’s south-east was to receive inflows similar to the Millennium Drought, dam levels would take six years to reach 40% (the level at which restrictions began last time).

Another lasting effect of the El Niño-fuelled scare of 2006–07 was a deliberate investment in Australia’s water data capabilities, through the establishment of a national water information service provided by the Bureau.

“One of the things the Federal Government decided at the time was that we had an insufficient understanding of the status and prospect of our water resources,” the Bureau’s Director of Meteorology and CEO Dr Rob Vertessy said. “[John] Howard made the comment ‘you can’t manage what you don’t measure’ and through the Bureau’s Improving Water Information Programme it is very much about the measuring side of things so we can manage the nation’s water resources more effectively.”

EL NIÑO ON THE GROUND FAR-NORTH QUEENSLAND

AUSTRALIA’S EAST COAST

During summer the Cape York Peninsula generally receives the biggest average rainfall deficit in the country. The region is less frequently buffeted by cyclones.

The east takes the brunt of the dry conditions during El Niño years, with rainfall deficits throughout winter and spring a regular occurrence along the entire eastern seaboard south of far-north Queensland.

MURRAY-DARLING BASIN

WESTERN AUSTRALIA The west is not affected by El Niño as much as the east coast because the Indian Ocean generates its own weather patterns. However, slight rainfall deficits are often seen in the south west of the state.

Extremely dry conditions in winter and spring lead to low inflows and leave large swaths of the basin vulnerable to bush fires when the summer heat rolls around.

TASMANIA The north east receives less rainfall during El Niño years throughout winter and spring, while the south west is vulnerable to dry summers.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

NORTHERN TERRITORY A large majority of the Northern Territory receives less rainfall during the El Niño cycle, particularly the north and central inland areas. However, extended dry periods are within the normal variability of the territory’s dual wet/dry climate.

The country’s driest state suffers from a parched winter and spring most El Niño years, before receiving average rainfall from December onwards.

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El Niño

The Bureau has dramatically upgraded its data collection and analysis capabilities since then, collecting and publishing rainfall, runoff, streamflow, storage and water usage statistics, among others, curating data from more than 200 providers across the country. “[Australia] just didn’t have that capability [to describe how water resources were trending] prior to 2007 and it was one of the reasons that gave rise to the sudden calamitous water security crisis that emerged out of the Millennium Drought,” Vertessy said.

WATCHING THE SKIES Fishermen in the 1600s off the west coast of Peru first noticed instances of unusually warm water at some years’ end, and with it, fewer anchovies and more storms. The phenomenon became known as El Niño because of its tendency to occur around Christmas time, with the phrase translating from Spanish as ‘the boy child’ or ‘Christ child’.

The Bureau believes the current El Niño likely peaked in late 2015, leaving an uncertain wait to see what follows: the relief of a wet La Niña year, a return to average falls or, less probably, a continuation of markedly dry conditions.

“The chance of 2016 being a La Niña event, based on what’s happened in the past, is around 50%,” Dr Shayne McGregor from Monash University’s School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment said.

Historically, the breakdown of strong El Niño events delivers above-average rainfall in the first half of a given year,

MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE TO ENSURE PEOPLE’S PREPAREDNESS FOR DROUGHT IS ADEQUATE ENOUGH WITH OR WITHOUT ASSISTANCE FROM THE GOVERNMENT. which could be a godsend for many regions suffering long-term deficits.

But while the water sector is eagerly awaiting the El Niño coin toss, growing apathy from city-dwellers threatens to further isolate those who depend on rainfall.

“In response to the very dry conditions in the 2000s, our five biggest cities all have desalination plants now,” said Professor Michael Roderick from the Australian National University’s Research School of Earth Sciences. “So for someone who works for the Sydney Water Board the issue now is really ‘how often do I have to run the desalination plant?’, rather than ‘how much storage do I need?’.

“That’s a huge change and it means metropolitan areas and rural areas are now disconnected. Once upon a time everyone shared in the misery of drought.”

*9: ,5=0;<), +,>(;,905. *65;(05,9:

Traditional methods of dewatering industrial and municipal high water content sludges involve the use of expensive operating and captial cost equipment such as centrifuges and belt presses. The alternative is passive dewatering using CRS Envitube Dewatering Containers made from woven polypropylene geotextile. Sludge can be fed from storage ponds or directly from the process / digesters, using lower dosage rates of polymers and producing exceptional quality ďŹ ltrate. Depending upon the length of time sludge remains within the CRS Envitube units to dry, solids of > 45% w/w can be achieved, as with water treatment sludges.

Infographic

WATER

BY THE NUMBERS

LAST YEAR, THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION COMPLETED IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATIONS OF WATER ATTITUDES VIA THE STATE OF THE WATER SECTOR REPORT AND THE AUSTRALIAN WATER CONSUMER OUTLOOK.

NT

32% ABOUT RIGHT

24% TOO HIGH

41% TOO LOW

SA WA

31% ABOUT RIGHT

15% TOO HIGH

50%

Water sector professionals believe urban water is priced:

PROFESSIONALS SURVEY

“Maintaining and augmenting infrastructure is a top-three priority”

2011

2012

2013

2014

31%

42%

37%

45%

2015

50% www.awa.asn.au

59% TOO HIGH

12% TOO LOW

TOO LOW

50

26% ABOUT RIGHT

PUBLIC SURVEY 74%

DROUGHT CLIMATE CHANGE

69%

POPULATION GROWTH

66%

COAL SEAM, SHALE AND TIGHT GASES

60%

MINING AND EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES

58%

INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE

56%

NATURAL DISASTERS

0

10

20

30

54%

40

50

60

70

80

Biggest threats to water in their state or territory

QUEENSLAND

28% ABOUT RIGHT

36% TOO HIGH PUBLIC SURVEY

28%

Concerned about local water shortages

TOO LOW

34%

NSW

43%

15%

36%

ABOUT RIGHT

TOO HIGH

TOO LOW

URBAN CONSUMERS

40% REGIONAL CONSUMERS

49%

VICTORIA

RURAL CONSUMERS

42%

22%

30%

ABOUT RIGHT

TOO HIGH

TOO LOW PUBLIC SURVEY

Authorities are doing enough to ensure we have secure water supplies in the future

34%

25%

34%

AGREE

UNDECIDED

DISAGREE

Sources: Australian Water Association and Deloitte – State of the Water Sector Report 2015, Australian Water Association and Arup – Australian Water Consumer Outlook 2015.

www.awa.asn.au

51

10-11 March 2016 Royal Randwick Sydney

2016 WATER INNOVATION FORUM & EXPO

Be part of the ‘ideas boom’

The Water Innovation Forum and Expo is the ultimate showcase of water innovation, bringing together the utility, medical, oil and gas, construction, food and beverage, and agricultural industries with technology providers and financiers to share ideas and discuss the latest developments in cutting-edge water technology.

This is your chance to hear from some of Australia’s leaders in innovation including đ Urban water management and innovative urban design – Tony Wong, CRC for Water Sensitive Cities; Paul Mulley, Sydney Water; Professor Stuart White, UTS; Daniel Lambert, Arup; Professor Zhiguo Yuan, The University of Queensland đ Harvesting energy from water and wastewater – Timothy Nelson, AGL Energy and Ian Donal, Yarra Valley Water đ Measuring and adapting to climate variability – Dr Suzanne Hollins, ANSTO and Ian Prosser, Bureau of Meteorology đ Transferring innovations to the world market – Grantly Butterfield, Australian Water Partnerships and Dr Paul Smith, Australian Water Association đ Digital water management improving utilities efficiency - presented by WSAA

+ 30 innovation product pitches from Australia’s brightest sparks

Register now!

Major Sponsors

www.awa.asn.au/InnovationForum16

Current THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE

T E C H N I C A L PA P E R S SUMMARIES OF THE LATEST TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES AND INSIGHTS FOR WATER PROFESSIONALS.

54 56 57 58

THE SAFETY CONTINUUM What the new microbial water quality target means for water providers.

SUSTAINABLE SEAWATER The Adelaide Desalination Plant, from planning to construction RESULTS ON THE GROUND Examining a pilot trial in groundwater treatment.

UPGRADE OR BUILD ANEW? When wastewater treatment reaches capacity.

60 63 64 67

LIQUID GOLD? Two US plants offer insights on biosolids management.

RISKY BUSINESS How to treat risk management as an investment.

DEEP DIVES IN DATA Inside SA Waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s use of automated billing analytics.

NUTRIENT RECOVERY Strategies for phosphorus removal in wastewater.

For extended papers on the latest research in the Australian water sector, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/e-Journal www.awa.asn.au

53

executive summary water quality

The water safety continuum WHAT THE INTRODUCTION OF A HEALTH-BASED TARGET FOR MICROBIAL WATER QUALITY MEANS FOR WATER PROVIDERS. R Walker

est practice for managing drinking water quality is now accepted to be the use of Health Based Targets (HBTs). This approach is based on the fact that pathogenic microorganisms pose the greatest risk of water-borne disease, and that assessing and managing that risk holds the key to controlling water quality.

The introduction of a HBT for microbial water quality in Australia has the potential benefi t for water providers of providing a mechanism for determining the adequacy of water treatment processes and setting consistent operational performance targets. The most likely HBT to be adopted is the World Health Organisation (WHO) target of one micro DALY PPPY. This is the best metric to quantify disease burden, but it is a diffi cult concept to understand, and there is no ‘feel’ currently for the consequences if

B

the HBT is not met. The water industry can appreciate the advantages of a HBT, but has concerns about how it will be interpreted and applied by health and other regulators in Australia.

In 2012, WSAA set up a working group to advise on the use of HBTs. The group developed a concept known as the Water Safety Continuum to improve drinking water quality outcomes for consumers and to help understand the consequences of not meeting the HBT. The Continuum plots the incidence of community disease for alternative water safety outcomes and log removal shortfalls.

Context is provided by comparison with background GI (gastrointestinal disease) levels, the detection of outbreaks by health surveillance and well-known water quality incidents such as ‘Milwaukee’.

Bands of safety have been superimposed on the Continuum in recognition of the inherent uncertainty associated with water safety calculations. When considered in the context of the Continuum it is concluded that: achieving the HBT of one micro DALY PPPY means the drinking water is unquestionably safe; however, the converse is not true and, therefore, the HBT should not be considered a pass/fail metric; the HBT of one micro DALY PPPY should be retained as an aspirational target, while remaining cognisant that it cannot be verifi ed by health surveillance.

The HBT is best used in conjunction with the Water Safety Continuum as a benchmarking tool – it indicates the quantum and type of improvements required, so is a valuable tool to manage utility water quality improvement programs. The further to the left a scheme is located

THE WATER SAFETY CONTINUUM EXPLAINED

54

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The water industry can appreciate the advantages of a HBT, but has concerns about how it will be interpreted and applied by health and other regulators in Australia. on the Continuum, the more signiďŹ cant and urgent is the improvement required; the Continuum can be used to link the operation of catchments and water treatment plants to public health outcomes. Operators can appreciate the public health impacts of their day-to-day decisions and the Continuum can also be used as a tool to help with the management of water quality incidents. The development of the Continuum has provided

conďŹ dence that a HBT can be implemented in a pragmatic fashion in Australia.

If adopted, the beneďŹ ts of a consistent approach to water treatment adequacy can be achieved without unwieldy and impractical regulatory arrangements.

To read the full article,

visit bit.ly/e-Journal

technical paper

technical paper

technical paper

technical paper

Wastewater Treatment

Wastewater Treatment

Wastewater Treatment

Wastewater Treatment

Program Beneficiaries

A REVIEW OF TWO WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS IN THE UNITED STATES A Cooper, W Bailey, C Rogers, D Solley, M Laginestra

ABSTRACT Wastewater treatment represents significant energy consumption, and authorities are becoming increasingly aware of the need to provide sustainable services. Biosolids management at WWTPs offers the opportunity to achieve energy sustainability through anaerobic digestion. This paper looks at two agencies in the US largely achieving sustainability.

Blue Plains WWTP (1,400 ML/d) DC Water, Washington, encountered rapidly escalating costs in 2006 and new digestion facilities were placed on hold. After a strategic development investigation plant management proceeded with Thermal Hydrolysis and Mesophilic Anaerobic Digestion, dramatically reducing construction and O&M costs, and involving generation of 13 MW of power.

Hill Canyon Treatment Plant (50 ML/d) In 2006 the plant operations team began an aggressive energy conservation program to enable 50% of the plantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs to be met by power production from biogas.

Additional energy was provided by solar panels (150 kW) and upsized cogeneration (700 kW). To ensure adequate production of digester gas, HCTP treats a variety of high-strength waste streams, and now achieves 100% production of its energy usage.

1

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Phased Approach To Achieve Cost Savings And Energy Reduction Initial operation of the CHP uses

Some Australian authorities are also looking at WWTP biosolids sustainability aspects and a summary of achievements is outlined.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion, biosolids, co-digestion, cogeneration, energy efďŹ ciency, high-strength waste, sustainability.

INTRODUCTION Wastewater treatment utilities around the world are increasingly aware of the urgent need to provide sustainable services. Sustainability is unique to each community, covering a broad range of aspects. Wastewater treatment facilities are typically the largest energy consumer for municipalities. Today, with a greater emphasis on energy efďŹ ciency and reducing resources, operators of wastewater treatment plants must consider their role as resource recovery centres, focusing on purifying water, beneďŹ cially using biosolids, and conserving/producing energy. There are signiďŹ cant social, economic and environmental beneďŹ ts for such an approach.

Biosolids management at wastewater treatment plants offers the opportunity to achieve energy sustainability through anaerobic digestion, the production of digester gas with high methane content, and heat and energy production (CHP).

natural gas for commissioning and then converts to digester gas This potential can be further the Thermalwastes Hydrolysis and ampliďŹ ed from if high-strength Anaerobic Digestion facilities. Digester are brought to the wastewater contains about 60% methane treatmentgas plants for co-digestion of biogenic origin, with no global with the collected sludge from the warming impact when fully oxidised wastewater treatment process. to CO2 during combustion in turbines.

To illustrate how this potential can Economic Viability be realised, biosolids management at Waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Biosolids has one large DC municipality and one Program small strong municipality are economic described viability in this over current operations due to reduced paper. These agencies face similar land application costs, reduced use of but varying issues due to size, lime and the economic production location, environmental and of circumstances. electricity and heat community Thisusing digester gas. Cost developed paper presents howmodels each agency is for the Biosolids Program challenges predict that annual addressing its sustainability O&M costs management, for the recommended by utilising biosolids program fromlearned 2015 onward and describes lessons and can about 40% of annual O&M costs innovativebeapproaches. for continued use and expansion of lime stabilisation of biosolids.

LARGEcurrent PLANT: DC These dramatic savings provide the WATERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S BLUE PLAINS funding to pay for the required capital improvements (Figure 6.)

ADVANCED WASTEWATER

TREATMENT Meeting PLANT Air Emissions

DC Waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Blue Plains Advanced Requirements And Ensuring Wastewater Treatment Plant (BPAWTP) Adequate Steam ranks as one of the ďŹ ve largestSupply The Biosolids Program must WWTPs in the US and is the largest meet air quality and air permitting advanced wastewater treatment plant. requirements, and the greatest In the 1990s, DCfor Water was potential air permitting challenges facing seriously deteriorated is the CHP facility. The CHP must biosolids provide facilities.the Itssteam comprehensive requirements for Biosolids the Management Plan in 1999 Thermal Hydrolysis process, and recommended replacement of power existingto offset can produce electric

Water e-Journal5

www.awa.asn.au Online journal of the Australian Water Association

the TH+MAD processes. All equipment can burn natural gas as well as digester gas, and the GTs have the ability to combust a blend of natural and digester gas.

The Mercury 50 gas turbines utilise recuperative combustion, providing the lowest level of air emissions.

They also provide over 38% efďŹ ciency for producing electricity with overall combined heat and power production efďŹ ciencies over 70%.

-iÂ&#x2DC;Ă&#x192;Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x152;Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x203A;Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;Â&#x153;vĂ&#x160; >Â&#x2DC;`Ă&#x160; ÂŤÂŤÂ?Â&#x2C6;V>Ă&#x152;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160; Â&#x2DC;y>Ă&#x152;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160;>Ă&#x152;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x17D;ÂŻĂ&#x160;>Â&#x2DC;`Ă&#x160;xÂŻ Table 1. Environmental beneďŹ ts of DC Waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Biosolids Program (Willis et al., 2010).

Emission Source

£nä]äää]äää

ÂŁĂ&#x2C6;ä]äää]äää

2007â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2008 Average Annual Emissions Estimate, Tonnes CO2e

xÂŻ

Project Annual Emissions after CAMBIâ&#x201E;˘ Digestion UpgradesA, Tonnes CO2e

Overall Predicted Reduction, Tonnes CO2e

Scope 1

£{ä]äää]äää

Natural gas "E Ă&#x160; Â&#x153;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x160;­fĂ&#x2030;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x20AC;ÂŽ

ACHIEVING WASTEWATER TREATMENT SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH MANAGEMENT OF BIOSOLIDS

This project will beneďŹ t the Washington, DC metropolitan area, i.e. residents of Prince Georges and Montgomery Counties in Maryland, Fairfax and Loudoun Counties in Virginia and the District of Columbia.

In total, 2.2 million people are currently served by the BPAWTP. This is estimated to reach 2.7 million in the year 2030. The CHP will reduce air emissions in the entire DC metropolitan area with its population of 4.5 million people due to the highly efďŹ cient gas/steam turbines with low emissions. Energy costs will be reduced for DC Water customers.

ÂŁĂ&#x201C;ä]äää]äää

Vehicle (fuel usage)

Ă&#x17D;ÂŻ

Refrigerants

£ää]äää]äää

Â&#x2C6;Â&#x201C;iĂ&#x160;-Ă&#x152;>LÂ&#x2C6;Â?Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x192;>Ă&#x152;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;

Â&#x2DC;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x2022;>Â?Ă&#x160;->Ă&#x203A;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;}Ă&#x192; /Â&#x153;Ă&#x152;>Â?Ă&#x160;Â&#x153;vĂ&#x160;-VÂ&#x153;ÂŤiĂ&#x160;ÂŁ

{ä]äää]äää

0 0

xÂŻ Ă&#x17D;ÂŻ

Â&#x2C6;}iĂ&#x192;Ă&#x152;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;

125

3,472

EfďŹ&#x201A;uent discharge (process emissions) Ă&#x2C6;ä]äää]äää

2,976 2,788

125

NitriďŹ cation/denitriďŹ cation (process emissions)B

nä]äää]äää

2,976 2,788

0 Ă&#x201C;ään

2010

2012

2014

Ă&#x201C;ä£Ă&#x2C6;

Ă&#x201C;ä£n

2020

2022

0 Â&#x2021;ÂŁ]Ă&#x201C;ÂŁx

10,237 10,178

Ă&#x201C;äĂ&#x17D;ä

Ă&#x201C;äĂ&#x17D;Ă&#x201C;

Figure 6. O&M cost comparison of digestion projectDWT (Biosolids Program) vs. lime stabilisation (continued and expanded) with 3%/Â&#x153;Ă&#x152;>Â?Ă&#x160;Â&#x153;vĂ&#x160;-VÂ&#x153;ÂŤiĂ&#x160;Ă&#x201C; and 5% annual inďŹ&#x201A;ation.

D,E,F, *

133,387

major power purchases needed for the BPAWTP. NOx production is perhaps the greatest permitting challenge for a project of this type located within the Washington DC Metro area, which is a non-attainment area for ozone.

Additional/Â&#x153;Ă&#x152;>Â?Ă&#x160;Â&#x153;vĂ&#x160;-VÂ&#x153;ÂŤiĂ&#x192;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x160;>Â&#x2DC;`Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C; Options

ÂŁĂ&#x2C6;{]nÂ&#x2122;n

Different prime movers and steam generation systems were evaluated in the development of the biosolids program, and the decision to utilise combustion gas turbines was highly inďŹ&#x201A;uenced by the low NOx emissions that these units can achieve. The turbines utilise heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) to produce the steam requirements. Recent advances in gas turbine designs utilising recuperative exhaust now offer very high energy conversion (38%) and reduced air pollutants emissions.

Solarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mercury 50 is one example.

Steam at about 1,200 kPa is required for Thermal Hydrolysis, and about one tonne of steam is required per tonne of solids throughput. Gas turbines are highly reliable if proper digester gas quality and consistent supply are provided. Siloxane treatment of the digester gas will be needed.

A steam boiler is being included to ensure high reliability of steam supply.

The boiler could be operated on either digester gas or natural gas. Therefore, the risks for air permitting problems have been kept to a minimum, and the overall energy output is maximised.

DC Water continues to explore opportunities for becoming energyBiosolids hauling (fuel useage/ neutral. The following optionsG are distance travelled) actively being considered: Lime production UĂ&#x160; Solar panels over process tanks.

B Methanol production This option is estimated to yield 14,600NMWh/yr; O emissions from land applicationH 2

10,178

ÂŁxĂ&#x17D;]näĂ&#x201C; -VÂ&#x153;ÂŤiĂ&#x160;Ă&#x17D; 4,154 14,547 7,167 50,437

N2O offsets from avoided chemical fertilisers -50,437 Also, DC Water is actively looking -6,812 creditsand direct at reducingFertiliser energy usage theapplied biosolids H (N and P) following projects offer opportunities credits composted biosolids -1,054 for savingsFertiliser as follows: (N and P)H UĂ&#x160; Improving efďŹ ciency of secondary /Â&#x153;Ă&#x152;>Â?Ă&#x160;-VÂ&#x153;ÂŤiĂ&#x160;Ă&#x17D;Ă&#x160; Â&#x201C;Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x192;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160;"vvĂ&#x192;iĂ&#x152;Ă&#x192; Â&#x2021;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x17D;]n{Ă&#x2021; treatment blowers; changing to ďŹ ner Ă&#x20AC;>Â&#x2DC;`Ă&#x160;/Â&#x153;Ă&#x152;>Â?Ă&#x160;­-VÂ&#x153;ÂŤiĂ&#x192;Ă&#x160;ÂŁ]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;]Ă&#x160;EĂ&#x160;Ă&#x17D;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2030;"vvĂ&#x192;iĂ&#x152;Ă&#x192;ÂŽ bubble air diffusion for ÂŁ{ÂŁ]{ÂŁĂ&#x201C; secondary Notes:treatment to yield associated with the Cambi digestion upgrades; 1.5 MW of aeration energy for 2 MW;Elements for proposed (non-accepted) methodologies are designated with an asterisk(*).

NitriďŹ cation/denitriďŹ cation N2O emissions and methanol consumption are estimated to

increaseSUMMARY by 35% to treat additional ammonia DC WATER

recycle from dewatering of digested biosolids.

Although the addition of new Thermal C Based on 1.145 tonnes CO2e/MWh Hydrolysis and Mesophilic consolidated carbonAnaerobic intensity of power.

Digestion Dfacilities signiďŹ cant EfďŹ&#x201A;uent Nrequires O reductions or electricity and/or 2 methanol increases from ENR capital expenditure (US$450M), theare not included in comparison. annual costs savings in operations E Blue Plains electrical consumption averaged MW in 2007 andto2008. Assumptions provide the29.26 savings needed include addition of 2.2 MW of new load repay this debt and stabilise future

Water e-Journal4

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS

recycle nitriďŹ cation; and 1.3 MW of load reduction associated with lime equipment that will no longer be in service. For the relatively small fraction of sludge processed using lime stabilisation, it is assumed that the lime processing electrical load is added to the digestion facility load.

F 13 MW will be produced from digester gas, having entirely biogenic CO2 emissions.

G Outloading of biosolids will be reduced from 65 to 29 trucks per day.

H Assumes 30% reduction land-applied nitrogen and no reduction in phosphorus.

K Assumes no change in sequestered carbon on a mass basis.

www.awa.asn.au Online journal of the Australian Water Association

Figure 4. New thermal hydrolysis and mesophilic anaerobic digestion at Blue Plains AWTP. 0 8. Power from the gas turbines BENEFITS FROM NEW 0 provides standby capacity for FACILITIES critical processes and safety 85,356 BIOSOLIDS48,031 From 2001 to 2014, DC Water was using needs, thereby eliminating £äx]Ă&#x2021;Ă&#x2021;ÂŁ lime stabilisation of {n]äĂ&#x17D;ÂŁ undigested biosolids. commercial power supply ÂŁÂŁn]änĂ&#x17D; At an average production {Ă&#x2C6;]nÂŁĂ&#x2C6; of 1,100 wet for this need; tonnes/day of Class B, lime-stabilised 9. Heat recovered from the gas biosolids, DC Water operated one of 1,853 the largest land application 2,301 turbines supplies TH+MAD and and biosolids other uses at the plant, saving beneďŹ cial use programs in North natural gas.

727 America. The new13,819 facilities from these advantages: 9,676 2015 onward offer-2,509 Using the CAMBIâ&#x201E;˘ Thermal Hydrolysis Process, the recommended lime stabilisation 35,306 1. Discontinued15,131 option (TH + MAD) at 410 dry tonnes/ saves 40 tonnes of lime per day; 149 142 day requires four process trains with 2. TH + MAD decomposes six reactors per train and four large previously undigested biosolids anaerobic digesters (14 ML /each).

-28,886 0 by nearly 50% (based on 65% -12,837 0 The combined heat and power VSS destruction, 78% VSS), facility will burn digester gas in gas dramatically reducing hauling -56 0 turbines (GTs) followed by heat and beneďŹ cial use costs; -35,306 -15,131 recovery steam generators (HRSGs).

3. Dewatered TH+MAD biosolids -4,768 -2,044 The GTs selected are Mercury 50 achieve 30+% solids versus models manufactured by solar 27% previously; turbine. Steam turbines (STs) may -738 -316 4. Combined impact of items 1â&#x20AC;&#x201C;3 be added in the future if merited. is a saving of 4,800 L/day of A steam boiler is provided to ensure Â&#x2021;Ă&#x17D;{]nnä ÂŁÂŁ]Ă&#x17D;Â&#x2122;Ă&#x17D; diesel fuel for hauling; steam production. Steam will heat nĂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x201C;äĂ&#x17D; xn]Ă&#x201C;äÂ&#x2122; 5. Class A biosolids are produced, DSS â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Department of Sewer Services. This enhancing the value of grouping includesthereby the sanitary sewer pumping the by product and stations not powered BPAWTP. Onlyincreasing natural gas and electricalbeneďŹ cial emissions are included. uses, including DWS â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Department of Water Services. This some closer to the plant; grouping included potable water booster 10,237

Methane emissions for landďŹ lling biosolids 290 UĂ&#x160; Solar panels over parking lots, building tops, etc. This option is -VÂ&#x153;ÂŤiĂ&#x160;Ă&#x17D;Ă&#x160; Ă&#x160; Â&#x201C;Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x192;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160;"vvĂ&#x192;iĂ&#x152;Ă&#x192; estimated to yield 8,700 MWh/yr.

Carbon sequestration land applicationK* -28,886 K* waste of UĂ&#x160; Co-digestion of food -12,837 Composting 15 dt/d (150 wt/d) is estimated -56 Carbon sequestration landďŹ llK* to yield 1.5 to 4.0 MW.

A Lime willfor be BNR used to process UĂ&#x160; Changing tostabilisation Anammox of the sludge production. to yieldB 5% 4 MW beneďŹ t.

-1,215

1,736 ÂŁĂ&#x201C;]Ă&#x17D;ÂŁĂ&#x201C;

DSS DWS 2024 Ă&#x201C;äĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x2C6;

Ă&#x201C;äĂ&#x201C;n

0

4,687

1,736 ÂŁÂŁ]äÂ&#x2122;Ă&#x2C6; Scope 2

ElectricityC Ă&#x201C;ä]äää]äää

stations. Only natural gas and electrical 6. Digester gas production up to emissions are included.

145,000 MJ/day (60% methane); DWT â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Department of Wastewater Treatment.

This grouping includes the BPAWTP. This total 7. Gas turbines includes electrical power as well asgenerate methanol 10â&#x20AC;&#x201C;13 and natural gas. Process of Nand O from MW ofemissions electricity steam from 2 nitriďŹ cation and denitriďŹ cation and from evolution renewable energy; this avoids of N2O from nitrogen species discharged in energy Biosolids usage from nonthe plant efďŹ&#x201A;uent current are also included. treatment loads within the plantsources boundary with are greater air renewable also included in this group.

Water e-Journal3

emissions;

UĂ&#x160; Â?i>Â&#x2DC;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x20AC;iÂ&#x2DC;iĂ&#x153;>LÂ?i]Ă&#x160;VÂ&#x153;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x152;Â&#x2021;ivviVĂ&#x152;Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x203A;iĂ&#x160; electricity Using digester gas for heat and power at the Blue Plains AWTP avoids fuel costs.

UĂ&#x160; i>Ă&#x152;Ă&#x160;vÂ&#x153;Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x160;/Â&#x2026;iĂ&#x20AC;Â&#x201C;>Â?Ă&#x160; Ă&#x17E;`Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x192;Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x160; >Â&#x2DC;`Ă&#x160; Â&#x2DC;>iĂ&#x20AC;Â&#x153;LÂ&#x2C6;VĂ&#x160; Â&#x2C6;}iĂ&#x192;Ă&#x152;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160;Thermal Hydrolysis operates at temperatures between 150°Câ&#x20AC;&#x201C;170°C. The CHP can meet these process heat needs with steam remaining for other uses in the AWTP. UĂ&#x160; Ă&#x20AC;iiÂ&#x2DC;Â&#x2026;Â&#x153;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x192;iĂ&#x160;}>Ă&#x192;Ă&#x160;­ ÂŽĂ&#x160;Ă&#x20AC;i`Ă&#x2022;VĂ&#x152;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x160; When digester gas is used in the CHP, power and steam production have limited or no reportable GHG emissions (in contrast to current fossilfuel derived power in the District of Columbia). A reduction in the AWTPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s GHG inventory will have a signiďŹ cant positive impact on the Districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall GHG inventory. The digester gas-fuelled CHP results in a carbon reduction of about 48,000 tonnes of CO2e per year.

Table 1 summarises the environmental beneďŹ ts of DC Waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Biosolids Program. (continued after Table 1)

Figure 5. Solar turbineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mercury 50 gas turbine.

www.awa.asn.au Online journal of the Australian Water Association

Water e-Journal

Online journal of the Australian Water Association

Water e-Journal is the new online repository on the Australian Water Associationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new interactive website, where you can ďŹ nd technical papers on a diverse range of water-related topics, including but not limited to: Ä&#x2018;ĆŤ 0!.ĆŤ 1 (%05ĆŤ Ä&#x2018;ĆŤ /0!3 0!.ĆŤ .! 0)!*0ĆŤ Ä&#x2018;ĆŤ 0 $)!*0ĆŤ * #!)!*0ĆŤ Ä&#x2018;ĆŤ +1.ĆŤ * #!)!*0ĆŤ Ä&#x2018;ĆŤ *2%.+*)!*0 (ĆŤ //1!/ĆŤ

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Submit Your Papers to Water e-Journal Water e-Journal welcomes technical papers on all water-related topics. You can download +1.ĆŤ ! $*% (ĆŤ ,!.ĆŤ 1 )%//%+*ĆŤ 1% !(%*!/ĆŤ 0ĆŤ %0Ä&#x2039;(5ÄĽÄ + Ä&#x152;ĆŤ#+ĆŤ0+ĆŤ0$!ĆŤ ĆŤ3! /%0!ĆŤ * ĆŤ (++'ĆŤ1* !.ĆŤ0$!ĆŤ 1 (% 0%+*/ĆŤ0 Ä&#x152;ĆŤ+.ĆŤ!) %(ĆŤ&+1.* (ÄŽ 3 Ä&#x2039; /*Ä&#x2039; 1ĆŤ"+.ĆŤ)+.!ĆŤ%*"+.) 0%+*Ä&#x2039;

executive summary desalination

Seawater desalination: a sustainable solution to water shortage

The Adelaide Desalination Plant uses reverse osmosis to produce up to 300 ML/day (100 GL/year at full capacity)

A LOOK AT THE PLANNING, DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF THE ADELAIDE DESALINATION PLANT JE Blesing, C Pelekani

here are many parts of the world currently experiencing drought conditions combined with a water supply that is unfit for human consumption. Scarcity of water also results in reduced availability for food production. Alternative water sources are necessary for sustainable development.

Seawater desalination provides a climate-independent source of drinking water. However, community perception that the process is energy intensive and environmentally damaging still exists.

This paper addresses the methodology adopted for the design, construction and operation of the Adelaide Desalination Plant (ADP) in South Australia, based on robust sustainable planning principles. South Australia is the driest state in the driest inhabited continent in the world, and Adelaide, with a population of 1.2 million, has a catchment storage capacity that equates to approximately 12 months of average annual demand.

Natural catchment run-off is augmented by water pumped from the Murray River, which can vary from 40% in an average rainfall year to more than 90% during drought periods.

In 2006–2007, the state was experiencing a severe drought, with the

T

56

www.awa.asn.au

water level in the Murray River at record low levels. In 2007, the South Australian government established a Desalination Working Group (DWG) to consider a range of water supply options including increasing reservoir capacity, stormwater reuse and wastewater recycling.

Seawater desalination was identified as the only viable climate-independent source of water.

From the DWG’s report and subsequent work by SA Water, the plant design brief included strict criteria including low energy consumption, minimal impact to marine and terrestrial environments, positive social and cultural heritage outcomes for the local community, and renewable energy sources for the plant’s electricity requirements. A plant capacity of 50 GL/year, expandable to 100 GL/year (50% of Adelaide potable water demand) was required.

The ADP uses reverse osmosis to produce up to 300 ML/day (100 GL/ year at full capacity) of drinking quality water, equivalent to 50% of metropolitan Adelaide’s average daily demand. Plant design incorporates the key criteria from the DWG report as well as the recommendations from extensive environmental studies and latest technology in seawater desalination, including the large-scale use of

ultrafiltration, a unique RO membrane array, energy recovery systems that reduce maximum power demand by more than 40%, and the ability to operate at capacities from 30 ML/day up to 300 ML/day without energy penalty.

The ADP has been operating since December 2012, with the following key performance indicators: O Specific power consumption ranging from 3.47–3.70 kWh/kL of water produced; O Silt density index (SDI) of permeate from the ultra-filtration plant ranging from 1.4 to 3.0 (average 2.4); O Permeate recovery range of 47.3% to 49.9% (average of 48.8%); O Average salinity measured 100m from the outfall is 0.4 ppt above ambient, measured 15km from the outfall (EPA license condition maximum 1.3 ppt) with no discernible impact on marine biota; and, O Power supply for the plant is fully sourced from renewable energy sources.

To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/e-Journal

executive summary groundwater

Ultrafiltration membranes for clarifier and backwash wastewater THE PILOT TRIAL RESULTS OF A GROUNDWATER CLEAN-UP PROJECT AT THE BOTANY GROUNDWATER TREATMENT PLANT IN SYDNEY P El Jbeily, F Barendregt, K Clarke, F Akkawi

he Botany Groundwater Treatment Plant (GTP), located in Sydney, NSW, forms a major component of the Groundwater Cleanup Project being undertaken by Orica and Chemicals Division (now Ixom Operations) to clean up contaminated groundwater arising from former chemical industry operations at Botany Bay. The GTP generates wastewater at 32 kL/h from clarifier underflow and backwashing media and biological filters. The wastewater is pumped to a sludge thickener to remove iron and biological flocs, and the thickener underflow pumped to sewer. The original plant design included recovery of the thickener overflow, but the biological activity from the dissolved organic carbon in the groundwater required more frequent backwashing of filters and consequential overloading of the thickener. Attempts to recover the overflow overloaded the media filters, so the overflow was diverted to the sewer.

In order to reduce trade waste costs, Orica and the Chemicals Division investigated the use of membranes to recover some of the waste discharged to the sewer and trialled DOW outside-in polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) ultrafiltration (UF) membranes in 2013. The trial assessed the suitability of the DOW membrane format and configuration and enabled optimisation of system design parameters.

The feedwater quality to the UF system was particularly challenging as the water was highly biologically active, with suspended solids up to 45 mg/L, including iron as high as 10 mg/L and volatile suspended solids up to 30 mg/L.

T

The pilot trial conducted prior to the construction and supply of the fullscale plant was able to validate the suitability of the DOW UF membrane and module format for the required application. The trial demonstrated that the membranes were able to treat and recover this industrial wastewater characterised by high suspended solids, turbidity and iron, to meet GTP treated

producing filtrate with total iron less than 0.5 mg/L and turbidity less than 1 NTU, which has allowed the water to be recovered back into the process.

Selection of a membrane material with good tolerance to oxidant exposure has allowed slug dosing of chlorine to resolve biofouling issues. While further work is required to resolve operating constraints and achieve the full benefit

The pilot trial was able to validate the suitability of the DOW UF membrane and module format for the required application. water quality criteria. It also enabled process engineers to optimise process set-points to maximise water recovery and cleaning effectiveness.

The project objective of bringing the UF plant into operation as quickly as possible to realise savings was made possible through Chemicals’ execution methodology and the selection of a standardised DOW IntegraPac UF module skid.

Maximisation of off-site works, early engagement of stakeholders to expedite site works, and ongoing technical support through the start-up and operations phases were crucial to meeting this objective.

The plant has been in operation since October 2014. The UF system has been

of the UF system, the plant is estimated to be delivering a net saving of $1500 per day under current operating protocols.

The successful operation of the Orica Botany GTP project demonstrates that ultrafiltration can be coupled with existing conventional processes to reduce waste volumes and trade waste costs.

To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/e-Journal

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57

executive summary wastewater treatment

Cowes wastewater treatment plant upgrade project A REVIEW OF WESTERNPORT WATERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MASTER PLANNING AND PROJECT DEVELOPMENT FOR THE COWES WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT UPGRADE C Jayasena, J Anderson

The upgrade was complex and challenging but it was completed on time and within budget with no breaches of the licence effluent limits.

58

www.awa.asn.au

esternport Water provides water supply and wastewater collection and treatment services to an area of 300km2 about 100km south east of Melbourne, centred on the holiday resort of Phillip Island. Although the serviced area only has a resident population of about 20,000, it experiences peaks of over 100,000 persons during events and holiday periods.

The Cowes wastewater treatment plant, which was a conventional extended aeration, activated sludge plant with disinfected effluent discharge to Bass Straight, was at full capacity. An analysis of treatment options recommended modifying the existing plant to biological nitrogen removal (BNR) rather than constructing a new plant. The upgrade involved converting the extended aeration process

W

to BNR, while increasing the overall plant capacity to handle projected influent loads up to 2021. The major changes involved: O Incorporating

an anoxic zone for biological denitrification;

O An

internal mixed liquor recycle of up to twice the average daily flow;

O Peak

wet weather loading is to be handled by a new storm bypass system to protect the biological process to an enlarged storm storage facility.

To provide increased capacity, upgrades were made to: O the

inlet works

O bioreactor O internal

pumping station

O sludge

digester, and

O sludge

drying systems.

The major challenge was to provide continuous operation of the plant within the licence limits during construction. This was managed by careful scheduling of construction activities to select the best timing and duration of individual work components.

In summary, the upgrade was complex and challenging, but it was completed on time and within budget with no breaches of the licence effluent limits. The upgrade was completed in June 2015 and since commissioning of the anoxic tank effluent quality has improved despite increases in inflow volumes. A comparison of the effluent quality before and after conversion is given in the table below.

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LICENCE LIMIT

PLANT EFFLUENT

Compliance Period

Effluent Discharge Licence Limit

2014 Jun 2015

JulySept 2015

Mean daily discharge

Year (median)

4ML/day

2.7

3.2

Max discharge

Month (max)

8.6ML/day

8.5

8.4

BOD5

Year (median)

5mg/L

5

3

SS

Year (median)

10mg/L

4

5

Ammonia as N

Year (median)

5mg/L

0.4

0.2

Total N

Year (median)

45mg/L

28

14

Total P

Year (median)

15mg/L

8.9

7.1

E. Coli

Year (median)

200 org/100ml

0

1

pH

Monthly range 6-9

6.5

7.4

Anionic surfactants

Month (max)

1mg/L

0.09

0.08

Total residual chlorine

Month (max)

1mg/L

0.78

0.75

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executive summary biosolids and resource recovery

Sustainable wastewater treatment through biosolids management A REVIEW OF TWO WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS IN THE UNITED STATES A Cooper, W Bailey, C Rogers, D Solley, M Laginestra

astewater treatment represents significant energy consumption, and authorities are becoming increasingly aware of the urgent need to provide sustainable services in delivering services.

Today, with a greater emphasis on energy efficiency and reducing resources, operators of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) must consider their role as resource recovery centres, focusing on purifying water for reclamation, beneficially using biosolids, and conserving or producing energy.

W

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Biosolids management at WWTPs offers the opportunity to achieve energy sustainability through anaerobic digestion, the production of digester gas with high methane content, and heat and energy production. This potential can be enhanced if high-strength wastes are brought to the WWTPs for co-digestion with the generated sludge from the wastewater treatment process.

This paper looks at two treatment plants (significantly different in size) where biosolids are suitably managed in the US in an effort to achieve sustainability.

BLUE PLAINS WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT Handling 1400ML a day, the DC Waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Blue Plains plant in Washington encountered rapidly escalating costs in 2006 and new digestion facilities were placed on hold. After a strategic development investigation by a blueribbon panel, plant management opted away from thermophilic digestion, which was the original plan, and proceeded with thermal hydrolysis and mesophilic

anaerobic digestion, dramatically reducing construction and O&M costs.

Since then, DC Water has implemented $450 million in improvements, including generation of 13MW of power.

DC Water continues to explore opportunities for becoming energyneutral. The following options are actively being considered: O Solar panels over process tanks (potentially yielding 14,600 MW/year); O Solar panels over parking lots, building tops, etc. (potentially yielding 8700 MW/year); and, O Co-digestion of food waste of 15 dt/d (150 wt/d), which is estimated to yield 1.5 to 4.0 MW. Also, DC Water is actively looking at reducing energy usage and the following projects offer opportunities for additional savings: O Improving efďŹ ciency of secondary treatment blowers; changing to ďŹ ner bubble air diffusion for secondary treatment to yield two MW; O Changing to Anammox for BNR to yield 4 MW beneďŹ t.

Biosolids management at WWTPs offers the opportunity to achieve energy sustainability through anaerobic digestion, the production of digester gas with high methane content, and heat and energy production.

HILL CANYON TREATMENT PLANT A Californian plant managing 50ML a day, Hill Canyon began to be transformed in 2006 after the plant operations team began an aggressive energy conservation program to enable 50% of the plantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs to be met by power production from biogas.

Additional energy was provided by solar panels in 2007 (150 kW) and upsized cogeneration in 2013 (700 kW). To ensure production of adequate digester gas, HCTP now treats a variety of high-strength waste streams, and in 2014 HCTP achieved 100% production of its energy usage.

Some Australian authorities are also looking at WWTP energy efďŹ ciency and biosolids sustainability aspects, including co-digestion and alternative digestion enhancements, and these are outlined in context with the above US case studies.

To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/e-Journal

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executive summary governance and risk management

The merits of risk management: compliance as an investment EFFECTIVE RISK MANAGEMENT INCLUDES MANAGEMENT AND MITIGATION OF OPERATING CONTEXT RISKS AND TURNING THEM INTO OPPORTUNITIES. A Davison

n today’s corporate world, it is fundamentally important for enterprise leadership to recognise, understand and manage risk.

Regulatory compliance is necessary but not sufficient, because there are many real and significant areas of risk that can have existential impacts if problems arise.

These include: brand/reputation damage and loss of shareholder value, as well as direct costs through product recalls; reduced cash flow; legal challenges; and compensation.

Water contamination occurring in both piped supply and bottled water sources over the past couple of decades has been found to incur direct costs at least in the tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars to the suppliers.

One of the iconic disasters was the 1990 Source Perrier failure: bottled water contaminated with benzene went undetected for six months, when carbon filters clogged and a warning light failed, leading to the recall of 160 million bottles of water from 120 countries. Although there seemed to be no actual illness as a result, the reputational damage meant the company traded at a loss for more than a year.

Questions exercising the minds of all stakeholders are: how far should risk management go, and will there be a payback? An international survey of 46 multinational businesses by the Ponemon Institute demonstrated that, on average, the benefit of avoiding risk was 2.65 times the cost of addressing it up-front.

In the UK, South West Water demonstrated that upstream water

I

quality protection work cost less than the alternative of downstream treatment. In Australia, Central Highlands Water constructed a water treatment plant costing less than half of the equivalent for a neighbouring utility that had less rigorous quality protection measures upstream. The literature is replete with examples of how much risk failures cost, some of the better-known examples being: Milwaukee (USA, 1993); Walkerton (Canada, 2002); and Dasani (bottled water, UK, 2004).

management. A box-ticking exercise is no substitute for a real, fully compliant and integrated system, with buy-in from all concerned. Where plans are made, implemented, monitored, reviewed and revised, they are more likely to be successful.

Business decision-making is a critical area of risk management.

Business decisions should be made on the basis of objective, evidence-based arguments about the benefits and risks of taking a proposed action (or not

Water contamination occurring in both piped supply and bottled water sources over the past couple of decades has been found to incur direct costs at least in the tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars to the suppliers.

There are many regulatory and management tools for risk management and related activities, including: ISO 31000; HACCP; the Framework for Drinking Water Quality Management; ISO 9001; ISO 14001 and ISO 22301, to name just a few. The challenge lies in ensuring that Boards integrate risk management with all other facets of corporate governance.

The benefits accruing from integrated management include better employee relations, better customer relations, and improved operational performance and business outcomes.

Tokenism by management and less than comprehensive implementation by staff threaten to undermine the benefits of notionally sound risk

taking it), and demonstrate consistency with corporate objectives. Within an effective risk management system, business cases also need to focus on the needs of the audience.

The take-home message is that properly implemented corporate risk management constitutes an important, necessary investment, not a cost. This is especially true for the water industry, where products and services pervade people’s lives.

To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at visit bit.ly/e-Journal

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executive summary automated billing

Automated analysis of metered water consumption A REVIEW OF THE AUTOMATED ANALYSIS PROCESS DEVELOPED BY SA WATER S Zhong, N Turich, P Hayde

AÂ Water collects and stores large amounts of customer meter data on a proprietary customer-billing platform.

To inform infrastructure planning, SA Water Corporation has a need to generate analytics based on this data.

Historically, the problem with meter data was the volume of data and general accessibility. These obstacles made data processing

S

and analysis both labour-intensive and time-consuming.

In the current regulatory environment, this approach was no longer acceptable, and a more timely and cost-effective approach was required that could provide whole-of-system outcomes. This paper provides details of the automated process developed by SA Water Corporation to analyse this data both temporally and spatially

A rapid, low-cost and robust automated analysis tool was created, based on metered water consumption data, which will contribute significantly to the business intelligence of SAÂ Water.

PROCESS FLOWCHART

Core SA Water Data Metered consumption data Water meter location data

CORE DATA & SPATIAL JOINT DATA EXTRACTION CONSUMPTION ANALYTICS REPORT PUBLICATION

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and for publishing the analytics.

Highlights include the following: O 20 years of billed consumption data across the entire state was analysed.

O Analysis included drawing correlations with external economic data.

O Detailed analytics were created and projections generated across all spatial scales.

O Analytics allows ranking and prioritisation of need for investment based on demand.

O A new automated process was developed using ArcGIS and Microsoft platforms. The automated analysis can be broken down into four major steps: Base Data and Spatial Join, Data Extraction, Consumption Analytics and Report Publication.

External Data Valuer-general: capital value

ArcGIS Consumption spatial data Water main spatial data Land size and value spatial data Locality maps

The process draws on both internal metered billing data and external data including land valuation and Australian Bureau of Statistics Census data that is available in the public domain. The new process creates the ability to carry out annual detailed analysis and publication of information for metro water treatment plant areas, metro suburbs, regional districts, regional towns and groundwater supply areas, supplemented with further socio-economic analysis of the metro suburbs.

This has proven to be a significant time-saving advancement for what would previously have been a time-consuming task. The code used for publishing reports can be easily adapted to include future change in analysis.

Based on the results, Sydney Water is now able to rank all areas by a number of different criteria, draw correlations with external socio-economic data, visualise the spatial disparity in growth, compare the relative importance of major customers in their respective areas, analyse historical trends and automatically generate future projections.

Many insights were made from the information generated, which includes the ability to rapidly quantify long-held anecdotal information.

Internal business units now have readily available data in a spatially relevant format to temporally monitor a suite of factors, highlight changes and update the decision-making processes accordingly.

In conclusion, a rapid, low-cost and robust automated analysis tool was created, based on metered water consumption data, which will contribute significantly to the business intelligence of SA Water.

The analytics will allow SA Water to make better-informed infrastructure planning decisions within a regulatory environment.

The results will inform our planning resources, our understanding of available capacity, and provide insights into customer behaviour and the reprioritisation of asset investments.

To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/e-Journal

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011 Census data Socio-economic indexes for areas

Microsoft Excel Consumption analytics Summary tables

ArcGIS Color-coded data maps

Microsoft Word Metered consumption reports Socio-economic study

executive summary wastewater treatment

Phosphorus removal at wastewater treatment works IMPLEMENTING NEW SLUDGE TREATMENT FACILITIES AT FOUR WELSH TREATMENT PLANTS TO AID PHOSPHORUS REMOVAL A Cooper, W Bailey, C Rogers, D Solley, M Laginestra

r Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) is a major UK water business servicing most of Wales. Natural Resources Wales, the Welsh environmental regulator, identified four wastewater treatment works (WWTWs) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Gowerton, Llanelli, Parc-y-splott and Pontyberem â&#x20AC;&#x201C; discharging into Carmarthen Bay, South Wales that required phosphorus removal. Effluent limits of 1 mg/L total phosphorus (TP) now apply. The paper describes how compliance was achieved and technical challenges overcome.

The key to meeting the new standard is chemical dosing to precipitate TP. However, this increases sludge production, requiring augmented sludge treatment. Ferric

D

PONTYBERREM FINAL EFFLUENT

sulfate dosing was selected for precipitating TP; however, this drops the pH requiring sodium hydroxide dosing at some sites, while the sludge treatment augmentations were varied, but wide-ranging.

Following initial process designs, the design and build team (Morgan Sindall/Arup) with DCWW Operations confirmed the scope and cost for upgrade works at each site.

This showed that scopes and budgets were incompatible, requiring significant review and challenges to prior assumptions. Value engineering examined reuse/ refurbishment of existing assets where feasible.

FINAL P

CONSENT P

4.0

mg/1

3.0

2.0

1.0

24 /1 / 16 18 /2 / 13 18 /3 / 25 18 /4 / 30 18 /5 /1 26 8 /6 / 27 18 /7 / 29 18 /8 / 25 18 /9 25 /18 /1 0 21 /18 /1 1/ 6/ 18 12 /1 8/ 8 1/ 1 8/ 8 2/ 18 4/ 3/ 1 6/ 8 3/ 1 7/ 8 3/ 10 18 /3 / 12 18 /3 / 14 18 /3 /1 17 8 /3 / 19 18 /3 / 21 18 /3 / 24 18 /3 /1 8

0.0

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Examples included: O

Acceptance that specifications were achievable using existing assets;

O

Refurbishment and reuse of available equipment;

O

Rebuilding civil works utilising existing foundations;

O

Demonstrating that treatment risks were insignificant, avoiding major capital upgrades.

Challenges to construction methodologies and DCWW specifications resulted in cost reductions, such as: O

DCWW specification challenge: Resizing pipework at Gowerton WWTW, minimal velocities need not apply to final effluent pipework, as risks of encountering settleable solids were remote (pipework replacement avoided).

O

DCWW specification challenge – tank level detection: DCWW had specified that chemical storage tanks required level probes to mitigate risks of spillage.

Upon review DCWW accepted mitigation using low-level pressure transducers, avoiding significant costs of fixed access to the top of tanks for maintenance of probes.

O

Construction methodologies: Use of pre-cast and pre-fabricated units Adoption of pre-cast concrete and pre-fabricated plastics components had cost, program and safety benefits.

Detailed examples of challenges faced at the sites are described in the main paper.

Implementation of chemical dosing for P Removal at these four heavily congested WWTW sites provided significant challenges for budget management and working constraints. However, with focused and collaborative stakeholders, environmental compliance was achieved by the target (31 March 2015). The P trends following chemical dosing for one of the sites are displayed in the graph on the left.

The main challenges were accommodating plant upgrades within heavily congested works sites that had previously undergone several rounds of upgrade works.

The main challenges were accommodating plant upgrades within heavily congested works sites that had previously undergone several rounds of upgrade works.

Factors involved included: O

Maintaining clearances to and protection of physical assets, both DCWW’s and that of other service providers;

O

Managing complex works within restricted spaces;

O Ensuring

building and plant locations allowed for vehicle turning circles;

O

Interconnections between new works and existing process units; and

O

Maintaining normal plant operations while implementing the upgrades.

To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/e-Journal

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18-19 February 2016 UNSW Sydney

AWA/IWA YOUNG WATER PROFESSIONALS CONFERENCE

Connect.

Collaborate.

Create Young Water Professionals in research and practice DeďŹ ning the future role of our Young Water Professionals, the AWA/IWA Young Water Professionals conference will involve workshops and sessions covering topics from wastewater, agriculture, international water leadership, water catchments and treatment, and will welcome more than 20 speakers from across Australia as well as internationally.

Keynote presentations from: Dr Marlene Kanga AM, Sydney Water: The innovation imperative and the role of connection and collaboration Dr Paul Pretto, Water Research Australia: Not just engineers - emerging challenges and opportunities for young water professionals Dr Norhayati Abdullah, IWA Young Water Professional of the Year 2012-2014, University of Technology Malaysia: IWA - The YWP network and beyond Gabrielle McGill, AWA Young Water Professional of the Year 2015, Arup: Water - Letting it WASH over you

Official pre-conference workshop Principal Partner

ICE WaRM - When Rain Doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Fall: Climate Resilient Water Sources 17 February, 2016 UNSW

Current THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE

A S S O C I AT I O N E V E N T S SHARING EXPERTISE ACROSS THE WATER INDUSTRY

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ALL TOGETHER NOW Australia’s biggest water industry event is back in May, with a wider appeal than ever before.

YOUNG BLOOD Young water professionals have their sights set on speaking with a united voice for the future.

ON THE CUTTING EDGE Those at the forefront of innovation are preparing to gather in Sydney.

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VICTORIA’S FINEST IN SPOTLIGHT Victoria celebrated the year’s best at its Water Awards dinner late last year.

SA TOASTS ITS TALENT The South Australian branch celebrated its Water Award winners in fitting style.

BEST IN THE WEST CELEBRATED See all the celebrations from the recent WA Water Awards Gala Dinner.

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All together now NEW THEMES MEAN COUNTRY’S BIGGEST WATER INDUSTRY EVENT WILL HAVE THE BROADEST APPEAL YET OZWATER’16 – EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW WHERE: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. On the banks of the Yarra River, the stateof-the-art centre is consistently ranked as one of the world’s best.

WHEN: May 10–12. Three days of workshops and presentations will feature more than 200 speakers from every corner of the water sector.

O

zwater’16 is looming as the biggest and best yet, with an unprecedented spread of topics to be addressed, as the conference expands far beyond technical issues.

Ozwater’16 Chairman John Thwaites said new themes had been added to broaden the appeal of the event and make sure it was fully addressing the most pressing issues in Australian water.

This year, the overall theme is Water: For Liveable Communities and Sustainable Industries.“The program theme of Liveable and Sustainable Cities of the Future has been significantly enhanced with four full-day streams across the program dedicated to this theme,” Thwaites said.

Industry input has prompted the biggest new addition this year – a new program theme, Contemporary Management. “This theme allows us to put the spotlight on management issues as opposed to just technical issues with topics such as transformational and behavioural change management at an organisational level, which are critical to the success of water authorities and companies,” Thwaites said.

“This is a key priority for the sector and by focusing this theme on day two of Ozwater’16, managers will be able to network with their peers and learn from industry-based case studies such as Yarra Valley Water’s Purpose-led Transformation.”

Thwaites said the event will offer delegates both a big picture view of water in Australia, as well as drilling down deep into detail. “No other event in Australia brings together water information, expertise, products and services like Ozwater does,” he said. “It’s not an academic or an industry conference. It brings together all of those in water and highlights collaboration across the sectors.”

PRINCIPAL SPONSORS:

WHO: More than 3000 professionals from water-using industries in Australia and abroad, engineers, researchers, policy-makers, utilities representatives and many more. More than 180 water organisations will also be setting up stalls for the mammoth trade exhibition.

HOW MUCH: Would-be delegates can secure early-bird rates by registering before March 31.

However, the trade exhibition is free for anyone to attend.

EARLY-BIRD FULL REGISTRATIONS Q Association member – $1260 Q New Association Individual Membership + Ozwater’16 registration – $1470 Q Non-member – $1510 Q Association member and full-time student – $630 Q Non-member and full-time student – $755 Q Retired Association members – $630 EARLY-BIRD DAY REGISTRATIONS Q Association member – $625 Q Non-member – $745 YOUNG WATER PROFESSIONALS PROGRAM EARLY-BIRD FULL PROGRAM Q Association and YWP Network member – $125 Q Non-member – $235 BREAKFAST OR WORKSHOP ONLY Q Association member – $70 Q Non-member – $125 HOW: Visit bit.ly/Ozwater16

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Practical skills and know-how in focus COMPELLING TOPICS FOR OZWATER’16 WORKSHOPS

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ands-on learning is a key part of Ozwater’16, with in-depth workshops aimed at giving delegates valuable skills to put into practice.

Dozens of respected figures from a wide range of utilities, research organisations and private sector firms have been confirmed to give insights on a range of topics, from sustainable cities to pipe technology.

identify common principles and share experiences.

New insights into failure prediction, condition assessment and corrosion on critical pipes to benefit customers: Smart data analytics can help inform renewal priorities for aging water pipe networks, as this workshop will explore, drawing upon Advanced Condition Assessment and Pipe Failure Prediction Project.

TUESDAY, MAY 10 Setting measurable, reportable targets for drinking water catchment operations: Experts from some of Australia’s largest and best-run water utilities will join with UNSW’s Dr Dan Deere for an in-depth exploration of best practice methods for observational, operational monitoring of catchments, to better adhere to Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.

Developing great strategies for water utilities: Sydney Water and SA Water will be under the spotlight for this workshop, delving into strategic governance and the steps for developing a new strategic framework.

Making capital work – who has the money for future water infrastructure investment: This workshop will examine the role private sector investment could play in the water infrastructure of tomorrow, along with discussion of what specific models could suit Australia.

Enhancing business outcomes through education: Educators, utilities and even the CEO of American Water Works Association will be on hand to examine how to improve water education, to increase water sector career awareness.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11 Validating water treatment in integrated urban water management: The Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence will join with industry representatives to explore WaterVal, a standardised approach to technology validation.

Transitioning to a Water Sensitive City: This two-part workshop, run by the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities, will allow attendees to be among the first to use the CRC’s recently developed index tool to benchmark the water sensitivity performance of their cities. They’ll also get hands-on experience in devising management actions to improve a city’s water sensitivity.

THURSDAY, MAY 12 Delivering outcomes through collaborative research: The Smart Water Fund will lead an industry discussion about the realities of collaborative research, aiming to

Dual pipe recycled water schemes: This is a must-attend for regulators and utilities exploring dual pipe recycled water schemes, examining the construction and management of buried assets for cross connectionsplumbing and distribution pipes.

WELCOME NETWORK EVENING Monday, May 9, 6pm–9pm Delegates can get warmed up for the conference ahead, catch up with old acquaintances and make new ones at Aerial, which offers panoramic views of the Yarra River. The Comdainsponsored event is included in the registration fee.

HAPPY HOUR AT THE CLUB HOUSE Tuesday, May 10, 5.30pm–6.30pm Taking pride of place in the centre of the exhibition hall, the Ozwater’16 Club House will host delegates for an evening of unwinding and networking after the first day of conference sessions. Included in the registration fee, this event is sponsored by Gentrack.

GALA DINNER AND AUSTRALIAN WATER AWARDS Wednesday, May 1, 6.30pm–11pm The highlight of the Australian water industry’s social calendar, this year’s awards gala will celebrate the water industry’s best and brightest. Sponsored by TRILITY, tickets are $185 per person.

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Covering all corners of the water world

SPOTLIGHT ON THE ROLE OF WATER IN A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

S

peakers at Ozwater’16 will cover the widest range of topics ever addressed at the event, with eight separate streams to ensure vital knowledge-sharing on all the big issues and opportunities in water.

Ozwater’16 will also feature a heavier emphasis on case studies than in previous years, allowing organisations to showcase more project-based expertise.

Liveable and Sustainable Cities of the Future is the key theme of the conference, with more than 30 sessions exploring the topic. Among the issues being addressed are tools and benchmarking for water sensitive urban design, integrated water solutions, stormwater management, waterways and open space, and flood resilience and management.

The liveable and sustainable future stream will also put the spotlight on low-carbon planning, resource recovery and waste-to-energy technology, and climate resilience and adaptation. Green concerns will also be explored in the Sustainable Industries stream, which will delve into innovation and efficiency in dairy processing and mining, as well as efforts to develop the north of Australia.

The Water for Rural, Remote and Regional Communities stream, meanwhile, will cast a magnifying glass on water treatment and management issues, as well as exploring success stories in rural and remote areas.

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In order to better serve water managers, a new theme of Contemporary Management has been added to this year’s line-up, to give in-depth insights on innovation, change management, behavioural change and more, drawing on examples from some of the country’s most successful utilities.

A Customers and Community theme has also been included.

And as always, Operations and Asset Management remains a major theme. Topics to be explored this year include: Q sludge management, Q treatment optimisation and efficiency in wastewater, Q modelling, Q recycled water, Q asset optimisation and efficiency in water, Q pumps, Q pipe assets, Q data management and decision support tools, Q desalination, Q innovation, Q failures and lessons learnt, Q sewage treatment and optimisation, and Q distribution systems.

A stream has also been dedicated to Governance, Regulation and Structure.

Keynotes to give international insight AUSTRALIA’S GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE TAKE CENTRE STAGE wo renowned international figures will bring some strikingly different viewpoints to the Ozwater’16 plenary sessions.

Aromar Revi is the Director of the Indian Institute for Human Settlements and has led more than a hundred major research, consulting and implementation assignments across six countries.

Ozwater’16 Chairman John Thwaites said Revi would bring an international perspective on the urban explosion across the globe, and the challenges and opportunities this presents for the water sector generally, and Australia specifically.

“As an industry, we need to think beyond purely water and begin to look at the role of water linked to housing, new developments and planning, international slum reduction and energy production just to mention a few,” he said.

“There are great opportunities for the Australian water sector to share our expertise and to form OZWATER’16 CHAIRMAN JOHN THWAITES new global relationships based on shared knowledge.”

At the other end of the scale, US author and business consultant Kerry Bodine will be sharing some of the lessons for improving customer experience that have been embraced by Sydney Water.

“Water authorities are increasingly saying they need to give their customers a better experience.

The relationship with customers is challenging as consumers get more demanding and their expectations increase,” Thwaites said.

“Bodine is a global expert in promoting superb customer experiences and I am sure the industry will be very interested in the insights she is able to give.”

Ozwater’16 will also finish with a keynote panel session, drawing together some of the water industry’s most respected figures to debate the big issues in water.

T

THERE ARE GREAT OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE AUSTRALIAN WATER SECTOR TO SHARE OUR EXPERTISE AND TO FORM NEW GLOBAL RELATIONSHIPS BASED ON SHARED KNOWLEDGE.

Aromar Revi

Kerry Bodine

OZWATER’16 GETS TECH BOOST Digital technology will make it easier than ever for delegates to make the most of the industry insights on offer at this year’s conference.

Each delegate’s nametag will be equipped with NFC (near field communication) technology, allowing them to take part in live polling and Q&A sessions in the main plenary hall. The nametags will also allow delegates to have the papers from any session delivered to them with a simple tap, as well as allowing instant access to each of the 40-plus poster papers.

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YWP Conference

Mountains of youth SCORES OF THE MOST TALENTED AND AMBITIOUS YOUNG PROFESSIONALS IN THE WATER SECTOR ARE SET FOR SYDNEY

F

or the organisers of the YWP Conference, the February event is about a lot more than highlighting the latest in research and providing an opportunity for networking.

YWP Conference Chairwoman Kathryn Silvester said a key goal of the Conference – which is returning from a short hiatus – was to help shape the debate over the future of the water industry to ensure that it takes into account the needs of YWPs. “YWPs are those who will be running the water sector in the future so our view of the future is incredibly important,” she said.

Silvester said YWPs would be called upon to directly inform the discussion through a workshop at the Conference. “YWPs are so vital and it’s important that the excitement and enthusiasm is encapsulated and something done with it,” she said. ¸;OL KLJPZPVUZ [OH[ HYL THKL [VKH` ^PSS HɈ LJ[ \Z PU [OL M\[\YL and while we might not be the leaders or the people making decisions now, we need our voices to be heard.”

Meanwhile, four broad themes will inform the rest of the *VUMLYLUJL JVU[LU[ ;OL Ä YZ[ TVYUPUN ^PSS MVJ\Z VU JVSSHIVYH[P]L innovation to improve water catchment management and treatment, covering topics such as in-situ desalination, oil-water separation and algal metabolites. After lunch, the sessions will focus on connecting and engaging with local water communities.

The next morning, the focus will be on wastewater treatment, from water recycling at abattoirs to bringing microbial electrochemical technology to market viability. In the second afternoon, the focus will be international, ranging across Israel, Jordan, India, Cambodia, Colombia and elsewhere.

For the full program, visit bit.ly/YWPConference

P R IN C I PA L PA R T N E R

Gabrielle

The details

Norhayati

McGill on…

What: Young Water Professionals Conference

the role YWPs play in the sector

what YWPs bring to the sector

Today’s young professionals grew up with the Millennium Drought, without an abundance of water. Perhaps it’s something that we as a group inherently value. It will be interesting to see how young professionals continue to engage with that idea throughout their career.

McGill is a Process Engineer at Arup and the 2015 Australian Water Association YWP of the Year.

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When: February 18–19 Where: University of NSW, Kensington, Sydney How much: $250 for members, $330 for non-members More information: bit.ly/YWPConference

Abdullah on…

YWPs are bridging the intergenerational gaps within the water sector and they are responsible for creating the future of the sector. The water sector faces the ZPNUPÄ JHU[ K\HS JOHSSLUNL VM HU HNPUN workforce and a shortage of adequately ZRPSSLK Z[HɈ [V TLL[ NYV^PUN KLTHUK Abdullah is a Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Research Manager and the 2012-2014 IWA YWP of the Year.

BIG NAMES, FUTURE FOCUS The YWP Conference is set to end on a thought-provoking note, ^P[O ZP_ OPNO WYVÄ SL Ä N\YLZ [V KLIH[L ^OH[ [OL M\[\YL VM [OL water sector should look like, and how to get there. To close the conference, a heavy-hitting panel will take the stage, including: ࠮ :[\HY[ 2OHU <5:> (ZZVJPH[L 7YVMLZZVY ࠮ 1VUH[OHU 4J2LV^U (\Z[YHSPHU >H[LY (ZZVJPH[PVU *,6 ࠮ *`U[OPH 4P[JOLSS <;: 0UZ[P[\[L VM :\Z[HPUHISL -\[\YLZ Deputy Director ࠮ 4LOYLLU -HY\XP .YLLUZ 5:> 47 ࠮ (KHT 3V]LSS >:(( ,_LJ\[P]L +PYLJ[VY ࠮ 1\SPHU )YPNNZ (\YLJVU >H[LY HUK >HZ[L^H[LY Treatment (as moderator) Silvester said the panel session promised to be a highlight. “We’ve got representation from the industry, from the universities and from the political side of things, which is what makes it so L_JP[PUN ¹ ZOL ZHPK ¸6M[LU WLVWSL ZH` it’s policy that is a barrier to real changes happening in the water sector so to have people like McKeown and Faruqi will give insights into getting things changed.”

The main topic of discussion for the panel will be the future; namely, what the ideal scenario should look like, which will help inform the Conference’s position paper.

“We’ll be exploring how YWPs see the future of the water sector and what skills and professional training they will require to make sure that vision comes to pass,” Silvester said. ¸6UJL ^L RUV^ [OH[ ^L ^PSS W\[ [VNL[OLY H WVZP[PVU paper where we will be able to say: ‘These are the skills that YWPs need and what they see as the important things to be focusing on in the future,’ and ask the industry how they can enable what is needed, through training and development.”

PEERS AND BEERS 3LHYUPUN HIV\[ [OL SH[LZ[ WYVNYLZZ PU [OL ^VYSK VM water can be thirsty work, so the organisers have ensured there will be plenty of opportunity to mix, mingle and network with peers.

Aside from morning tea and lunch breaks on LHJO KH` [OL Ä YZ[ KH` VM [OL JVUMLYLUJL ^PSS LUK with a special Veolia-sponsored event combining craft beer with the big issues in the water industry.

-V\Y VM [OL Ä ULZ[ JYHM[ ILLYZ ^PSS IL VU OHUK for sampling during the night, paired with four questions to debate.

Innovation Forum and Expo

Tomorrow’s edge THE ULTIMATE PLATFORM TO SHARE THE SPIRIT OF INNOVATION ACROSS WATER-USING INDUSTRIES IS BACK FOR ANOTHER YEAR.

ack for the second year in a row, the national Water Innovation Forum and Expo is set to confirm its position as the leading platform for water innovators.

Set for Sydney in March, the Australian Water Association event will bring hundreds of people from across a huge range of water-using industries to meet, exchange ideas and hear from many of the figures at water’s cutting edge of sustainability.

Association CEO Jonathan McKeown says the sheer breadth of disciplines and backgrounds among the attendees means the event is an unparalleled opportunity to creatively crosspollinate.“Given the aging infrastructure and climatic pressures on water, Australia’s future water security relies on major innovation in technology, design and approach,” he said.

“Now more than ever it is critical to support, promote and cultivate innovation if we are to increase efficiencies, improve practices and withstand any water challenge that comes our way.”

Topics of discussion include urban water management, harvesting energy from wastewater, adapting to climate variability, treating emerging chemicals, digital water management and more.

In addition, dozens of water technology suppliers will be on hand to take part in competitive pitch sessions, giving them valuable exposure while giving attendees rapid-fire introductions to the newest innovations in their fields.

B

THE MUST-SEE SPEAKERS Julian Kezelman As Senior Associate of The Strategy Group, Julian is helping organisations to build innovation capabilities and implement innovation strategies. He will open the forum by illuminating design thinking, a contemporary approach to complex problem solving based upon working towards wider goals rather than overcoming specific problems.

The details

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The Director of UQ’s Advanced Water Management Centre and one of the country’s most influential engineers will take his place on a stage with four other highly respected urban water leaders to discuss one of the big issues – how to make the most of integrated urban water management.

Timothy Nelson

Dr Suzanne Hollins

There are few people in Australia better placed to comment on the opportunities and challenges of harvesting energy from water and wastewater than the Head of Economics, Policy and Sustainability at AGL Energy, who will join put the spotlight on innovative renewable energy projects.

As a Senior Research Scientist at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Hollins is at the cutting edge of efforts to build new tools to understand and plan for Australia’s climate variability, which she will be discussing with BoM’s Ian Prosser.

Anna Kosovac

What: Water Innovation Forum and Expo When: March 10–11 Where: Royal Randwick Racecourse, Randwick, Sydney How much: $900 for members, $1030 for non-members More information: bit.ly/InnForum

Professor Zhiguo Yuan

The Australian water sector has experienced many barriers to innovation in recent years.

Kosovac will explore the role of the media and public sentiment around water-related issues and how these can serve to stifle innovation and collaboration.

Gretha Oost The company founder of the winning entry of the 2015 Innovation Challenge will explain how to apply a systems approach and revisit water drinking habits in public spaces. Project 0 delivers an attractive design-driven solution to the environmental impact associated with bottled water.

Association events

Event calendar FROM NETWORKING TO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, THE ASSOCIATION’S CALENDAR IS OVERFLOWING WITH EVENTS FOR EVERY TYPE OF WATER PROFESSIONAL.

FEBRUARY QLD: Technical meeting – QUU’s S1 Sewer Rehabilitation project Queensland Urban Utilities’ Adrian Vosloo and Kumar Wisumperuma will delve into the efforts behind the award-winning project.

WA: YWP Mentoring Meet-and-Greet

10

NSW: Breakfast Briefing Gavin Hanlon, DPI Water

11 12 15 16 18 18–19 19–20

VIC: YWP Social Networking Lawn Bowls

MARCH

02 03 04

SA: YWP Mentor Program Breakfast VIC: YWP Mentor Program Breakfast

TAS: Stormwater Symposium, Old Woolstore, Hobart Held jointly with the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia, this event will feature all the latest news and views in stormwater management.

QLD: YWP Event

APRIL NSW: Annual Water Industry Breakfast SA: Policy Forum

06 09 12

VIC: YWP Workshop

VIC: Technical Evening: Biosolids/ Wastewater/Energy Efficiency This seminar will help show engineers how they can save energy through innovative use of biomass and reductions in aeration and bio-reactor footprint.

SA: YWP Technical Event

VIC: Program Launch and Climate Change Seminar

ACT: Technical Seminar: UC’s Better Water Survey AUS: YWP Conference, Sydney

VIC: YWP Regional Conference The 10th annual conference will explore innovative water solutions across wastewater treatment, stormwater management and industry partnerships.

25

QLD: President’s Dinner SA: Technical Event

QLD: Technical Meeting: Gold Coast Water on Seaway Gold Coast Water’s Mark Herrmann and Anna Hollingsworth will be on hand to walk the audience through how the utility has developed a staged solution to manage the city’s future excess recycled water releases.

13

AUS: Water Innovation Forum and Expo

27

09

10–11 11

NSW: Heads of Water Awards Dinner, Royal Randwick, Sydney.

To cap off the Innovation Forum, the NSW Branch will take over the Royal Randwick’s Grand Ballroom to celebrate the finalists and winners for the NSW Water Awards.

17 18

ACT: Site Tour Cotter/Molonglo Dam

TAS: Breakfast with TasWater’s Mike Brewster SA: YWP Mentoring and Student Orientation

QLD: Technical Meeting: Validation of Treatment Technologies Dr Mark O’Donohue from the Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence will detail the work the Centre is doing to harmonise validation procedures for water treatment technologies.

NSW: WASH Seminar: Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals WA: Policy Forum

29

QLD: Women of Water event

MAY

10–12 27

AUS: Ozwater’16, Melbourne

VIC: YWP Annual Dinner Tuxedoed gents and elegant femme fatales will take centre stage for the ever-popular night, which this year features a James Bond theme.

For more details and to register, visit bit.ly/ AWAevents

www.awa.asn.au

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VICTORIAN WATER AWARDS

Australian Water Association CEO Jonathan McKeown (above) and Victorian Water Minister Lisa Neville and ClimateWorks Australia Chairman John Thwaites (middle right).

CROWN CASINO

VICTORIA PUTS SPOTLIGHT ON YEAR’S FINEST

T

he eyes of the Victorian water industry were firmly fixed upon Crown Casino in December when the Victorian members of the Australian Water Association turned out in force to see who among their peers would be named the year’s best.

A total of seven awards were handed out across individual and project categories.

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Out and About

SA WATER AWARDS

SA TOASTS ITS FINEST TALENT

NATIONAL WINE CENTRE

H

undreds of the Australian Water Association’s South Australian members gathered late last year to celebrate some of the most talented among their ranks, while enjoying some of the country’s finest produce.

Held at the National Wine Centre on November 20, the 2015 SA Water Awards heralded the achievements of eight individuals and projects with awards.

www.awa.asn.au

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WA WATER AWARDS

BEST IN THE WEST CELEBRATED

Shelley Shepherd and Helen Brookes.

Australian Water Association President Peter Moore.

Out and About

The Department of Water team.

Kruti Patel, Halinka Lamparski and Renee Blandin.

DUXTON PERTH

T

Katie Trevor and Narelda Jacobs.

he Australian Water Associationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s WA branch applauded some of the most talented in their ranks in grand fashion late last year. Nine awards were bestowed as part of the 2015 WA Water Awards Gala Dinner, held in the Grand Ballroom of the Duxton Perth.

Patrick Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Leary and Mike Rowe.

Martin Anda, Luke Murphy, Ashwin Nayak and Chenoa Lange.

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Water ways

FROM BANKING TO SEWERAGE TECH, JOHN RADINOFF HAS TAKEN FLOVAC FROM LICENSEE TO INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS, AND FOUND SOME ENLIGHTENMENT ALONG THE WAY. As told to Joshua Hoey

JOHN RADINOFF

MY BACKGROUND IS CORPORATE banking: a regional vice president for Goldman Sachs in Asia, and then back to Australia as director of Swiss Bank and UBS. But I decided to get out of that and go into funds management and at that stage of my career I had to either move to New York or London. I had young kids at this stage and I just wanted to be in Australia for a while.

My father had brought the technology behind Flovac to Australia in the 1980s as a licensee of an American company. They talked me into taking over the business so my parents could retire. My idea was I’d come in for a year and, being a big international banker, I thought I’d turn it around easily and then sell it off and just go back to playing golf and figuring out what I really wanted to do, but I saw some good possibilities.

MAKING GOOD Fifteen years later, I’m still involved. My brother was working in the business as well, and we just decided we might as well set up our own business, Flovac.

We split up some of the territorial responsibility with our European partners to manage it more effectively, and unfortunately, as it were, we got stuck in the Middle East.

We were working over there a lot and doing a number of projects, working with Nakheel, who built Palm Island, and also with Jumeirah Golf Estates. We did Reef Island in Bahrain, which is one of those massive, man-made silly things. Things were going well. We were just about to pick up the second Palm Island when the GFC hit, and when Nakheel stopped paying us; we walked away from all those things.

It was a big hit for us, and nearly sent us to the wall. We had to go back and

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focus on the core stuff down in Australia – maintenance – and then rebuild from there.

CROSS-SKILLING Coming into a utilities sector from international banking has proved really useful. We deal with a lot of utilities who are conservative and long in decision-making, and we’re able to bring a new perspective on how to look at things, especially with a newer type of technology. Now we’re looking at asset management and benchmarking with clients. We’ve run conferences around that and helped with standards establishment. It’s all about focusing on the long-term, holistic side.

It’s also far easier to justify to my kids.

Being a banker, just shuffling papers, I always wondered, “Why on earth am I getting paid silly amounts of money?”.

My wife had no idea what I did. To be able to say to my kids “we’re going to start a pilot project in Bombay to maybe help people in the slums,” feels a lot better.

It’s nice working with engineers whose main goal isn’t to get a bigger pay packet; it’s to leave some kind of positive impact on the planet and to have some sense of satisfaction.

We’re more strategic with the kinds of projects we do now. Not silly projects with man-made islands in the Middle East,

It’s nice working with engineers whose main goal isn’t to get a bigger pay packet; it’s to leave a positive impact on the planet.

more developing countries, and even in Australia, in small towns with septic tanks that cause problems, like Baradine in New South Wales. The number of sick days from schools was quite high, and they had a lot of problems before actually putting in a proper sewerage network.

It’s rewarding to see those kinds of transformations.

Going into India has been different.

Ministers, heads of consultancy firms, industry leaders actually attend trade shows. They want to learn, to make their lives better and improve sanitation. You can really see the benefits of our technology in developing countries.

For [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi to come out and say he wants to see a toilet in every house is a massive shift, as is building 80 treatment plants along the Ganges to clean the river. You’ve got to get the sewerage to the treatment plant and that’s where our technology comes in.

In wastewater, people can’t afford to be complacent anymore. Conservative authorities who say “I’m going to keep my head down and not make a decision, and that’s how I can get to the end of my career and pass the problem on to the next person,” just don’t cut it. There’s far more imperative to do things. Countries are wealthier, and people are wealthier too, and there’s now no excuse for a country with any sort of wealth to have sewerage flowing down open channels in the streets and causing massive health problems.

John Radinoff is the CEO of Flovac Systems, which specialises in vacuum sewerage systems, from design through to operation. It has won numerous engineering and sustainability awards.

T H E A U S T R A L I A N WAT E R A S S O C I AT I O N M A G A Z I N E

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THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE F E B R U A RY 2 0 1 6

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Volume 1 No 1

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Turning the tide on potable water recycling

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